Getting Better...??

After a very crappy, yes crappy July it seems that August is a little better.

Yes, I have been around long enough to know that summer is slow. But this summer has taken the cake, cake plate and all the crumbs. Of course all the "good" news on the economy isn't helping anything. I have a way for folks to perk up the economy. Buy used. Buy twice as much for half the money. Save it from the landfill.

I have had a really crazy summer. Busy, grand daughters visiting, sick, busy, SweetiePie sick, busy, busy busy. Had the car in the shop for clutch repair, not cheap. The upstairs heat pump went out and cost $1500 to get it going again. One thing after another. But I'm a little squirrel with my paypal account and I had the funds to cover everything. Thank goodness. Never, never, ever empty your paypal account out. Keep something in there for an emergency and put the rest in the bank.

Now I am trying to get ready for a road trip. Get caught up with everything before I leave and make room for my new purchases from my road trip. I have such a stack of stuff that needs to get online, because we all know that if it ain't listed it ain't gonna sell.It's almost like going thrifting when I open a tote and find stuff that is really good dollar wise that I forgot I bought. Merry Christmas to me!!

I know I should probably donate some of the things I have listed. But let's face it, I'm a cheapskate, a borderline hoarder, and don't like to throw money away, even a quarter. I don't mind donating something back to the thrift store but if I pick it up for less than 25c then I can wait for it to sell even if I only make $20 profit. I think that is a pretty good ROI.

There are advantages to going to the post office every day. See what I got at the post office:

Now this isn't something I ordered in the mail. It is something that my post office guy gave to me that he was going to donate. I listed everything in the pic except the letter holder. I used that to organize my shipping table.

When I go to the post office every day my clerk started asking me what I sold and how I sourced the stuff I sold. I told him he should try selling on ebay. I offered to help him get started but he said he didn't really want to, that he didn't have time to source and didn't know what to source. So a couple of weeks later he handed me a box with this stuff in it. I just took it and when I got home I checked everything out. The Bamboo is NIB, the post office regulation shirt is NIP, the pig wallet is NIP, the remote control is NIP, the drawing book is new, the art pencils are NIP and the Fossil wallet is new. The Invicta watch is used but everything is fine on it, very light scuffs. I got everything listed and have already sold the art pencils and the Fossil wallet.

I'm one of those people that is always on a diet, but never seem to loose weight. I like gravy, especially this kind of gravy. If I sell everything listed for the listed price I will have $190. Now that is good gravy.

Now back to listing. I have been trying to get 10 things listed a day. For me as a single person doing everything, I think that is pretty good. I find it, clean it, photograph it, store it, sell it, and ship it. I am also trying to get some listings scheduled for my vacation time to auto list. Every day I sit down to list I add one more item and schedule it for a vacation day. Even if I only have one item each day of vacation it will be something new and we all know how Cassini loves people who list regularly.

Happy listing, selling and scavenging.

To Measure or Not

I had a simple little skirt to list last night. Just needed to make sure that is was a women's skirt and not a girls skirt. Why?

Last week I accepted a return for a denim skirt that was a size 10. I measured it and included the measurements in the listing. Only one problem. I measured it as a 10 women's and it was really a 10 girls. Why did I make this mistake? Because I didn't check the charts. There is a small difference in the actual waist size (about 2" laying flat) and since I am no where in the neighborhood of a women's 10 I just went with visual guessing. Bad choice.

So, I didn't want to make the same mistake again.

So, I checked completed listings for similar style and maker skirts. Found one and checked the listing, no measurements at all. Checked 5 more and finally someone included the measurements. I checked 6 listings before I finally found someone who took the time to include measurements.

I try to be a good seller but this makes me wonder how many other sellers skip the essentials. I am beginning to understand why buyers react so negatively when they have a problem with something they bought. You shouldn't have to email a buyer to find out what the measurements of clothing are. Some buyers take days to answer emails. Most buyers want the answer instantly, or sooner.

I read somewhere, or heard it somewhere, that you should take pictures like there is no description and list like there were no pictures. I don't think I would go that far, but I think a good description helps make the listing more transparent, not like you are hiding anything.

I have reached a similar decision that "the Trash Elves" have reached and I plan on eliminating anything unnecessary from my listing. No more templates. More succinct descriptions and I'm really trying to do better photos. Coming soon to a listing near you!

So, cut corners by cutting out templates. Cut corners by cutting out words. But don't cut corners by leaving out measurements.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Don't you just love the online selling experience? You get to go shopping and scrub gum and poo from shoes and find amazing things. Well, mostly normal once in a while amazing.

The Good

Is this not beautiful? I found this by accident yesterday while out shopping. It was sitting outside under the sheltered front area right at the front door and no price tag. I WANTED it so I asked for a price. Surprise, surprise they gave me a price. $50. (Did I forget to say I also had a 25% off coupon!!)I didn't have the truck, just my small, 2-door car. And it was quite a struggle to get it in the car. Wouldn't fit in the front seat, duh. Had to tie it in the trunk. Well sort of in the trunk. More out than in. But I made it home and now it is sitting in my kitchen by the deck door. Too hot to go outside anyway.....

Its marked Holstebro Mobelfabrik A/S Made in Denmark!! I'm not a Danish Modern person but I did have enough sense to know it was Danish. I know it was made in Holsterbro, Denmark in the Holstebro Mobelfabrik factory. That's all I have been able to find out. The Mobelfabrik designer name is good and there are a lot of different ones. No actual designer, as I can't find another one even close to the style. In great shape with some scuffs in the wood from moving it around, but nothing major. If anyone has any knowledge or knows where to find any info it would be appreciated.

The Bad

I sold this men's 14K wedding band as my first sale for July. Not bad at $399. I should say I rented this wedding band. I got a return request last week and got it back this week. So much for making ends meet. I received a note from the buyer with the return request. "You can take out the 20% if you want" You bet I want!! Still trying to get the return closed thru ebay. The CS rep told me I needed to escalate the case in order to close the return. I will not escalate the case!!! The last time a CS rep told me that, I got a defect and I had already returned the money. I will not ask for a defect again!!!

The Ugly
While I was shopping yesterday it started to pour rain. The hard, blowing, storm kind of rain. I just kept shopping and let it rain. The building I was in was steel and it sounded like gravel being poured on the roof. When I got ready to leave it was raining so hard I got soaked to the skin getting the 100' to the car. I prefer to shower with my clothes off!! But that's not the ugly part.

On the way home I noticed something on the windshield. It was something small that was right where the rear view mirror was attached. When I got home I checked it out.

A crack in my windshield. I must have happened in the parking lot while I was shopping. I have no idea what hit the glass but with wind gusts over 50 mph whatever it was hit just right and did its damage. I was raining so hard when I got in the car I didn't even notice the crack. From the drivers seat the long, downward crack is almost totally hidden behind the mirror.

And when I got the car unloaded, SweetiePie informed me that he needed to see the doctor because he had an earache, sore throat....oh no!!!

So, if bad things come in 3's I've had my quota for the month of July. I'm totally ready for August. Bring it on dog days of Summer. I can take it.

How long does it take?

I've been very busy these last couple of weeks. I have a ton of inventory to list and I need to get my inventory organized. Two of my not so favorite things to do. I had rather be shopping or shipping. Finding treasures and shipping out sold items is much better than scraping gum off the bottom of a smelly shoe, any day.

I also had a visit from my two Princess Grand Daughters. I'm surprised that they could fit a trip in to Grandma and Grampa's house, what with their busy social schedule. But I picked them up last Saturday and we had a fun week. In spite of the fact that my car had an unexpected trip to the repair shop, we had a great week. I was on the edge of my seat when the girls had to ride in the back of the truck to the post office, but they thought it was fun. We only live about 2 miles from the PO and it is very rural and we barely saw any vehicles on the road. Still I held my breath until we got home.

So.....with all that was going on I didn't get much listed last week. I had better things to do. I didn't get anything listed on Thursday or Friday. No sales on Friday after 10am until 3:09pm on Saturday. That's over 48 hours with no sales. I have days here and there with no sales, but since I hit over 1300 items I very rarely have a day with no sales. Some days I may sell less than $20, but still a sale.

So, how long does it take....after you list something to start getting sales again?

Oh...about 9 minutes!!! I listed something Saturday at 3 pm and at 3:09 I had my first sale in 50+ hours.

Listing and selling definitely are tied together.

A sale of note last week was a men's 14K gold wedding band with 3 small diamonds for $400. Listed for about 6 months. A great way to start the month of July off!! And a plus was that my SweetiePie found it with his metal detector. And it helped cover my $600 clutch repair bill for my car. A win all the way around. Now if he finds a couple more items like that we will have the cost of the detector covered!!
Now, I just hope that it doesn't get returned.

I was busy last week with all sorts of things with the Princess'. The oldest is very artistic and when we went to the craft store she wanted some Sculpy to make things while I was teaching her sister how to sew. So after a trip to the craft store and the fabric store we were all set with stuff to keep us busy for the week.
Princess M, working on her dress. She did the whole under dress by herself. Cut everything and did really well with the seams. We ran out of time and I finished the fishnet overlay so she could take it home.

Princess H did these all by herself, with her very vivid imagination. She did one more later and we baked them so she could take them home.

Of course Firefly had to help keep things together, and pre-treat everything with cat hair.

The two Princess, as different as night and day.

A very busy week for one tired Grandma and Grandpa!!

A duck, a horse and Bobba Fett walk into a bar......

Sometimes strange things end up together in my inventory room waiting their turn in front of the camera.

I hope they weren't plotting an escape.

Rubber duckie infant bath tub....found in the free bin!!! Working Bobba Fett talking helmet for $1 at a church sale.

I've been busy trying to list all of these shoes that I have. Shoes and boots. I counted 50 and then I had at least 30 in two other totes. Our GW is loaded with boots now. Not many sandals or sneakers just tons of boots.
I found these in the front display case at my favorite thrift, the one with bag day and all the bins. They had them marked at $50. What? I asked to see them and saw that they were new from Saks Fifth Avenue along with a $50 price tag. I gave them back to the guy behind the counter and said "that's the closest that I will ever get to Saks Fifth Avenue". He said that they had been there for a while, since April according to the code on the sole, and would I pay $25. Hel... well maybe, what size are they? And on top of that I had a 25% off coupon!! Yahtzee!! So for $18.75 I have a nice pair of boots from Saks. More than I normally pay, but they are new with tags, from Saks and beautiful leather and since they aren't my size I won't feel guilty selling them.

Happy hunting and listing and listing and listing........

ALWAYS check the free box

....you never know what you will find.

Yard sale season is in full swing. Lots and lots of sales this weekend. So many I couldn't decide where to go. Well, not really. I knew that I wanted to hit the local church yard sale. I have found fantastic bargains there in the past and this time was no different.

The sale is run by the youth group to raise money for a missions trip. The had stuff piled high and they were selling low. Pardon the pun. Clothing and shoes were 50c each. or $2 per grocery bag. Inside I dove in the toys and found some hopefully good stuff. On to housewares and more good stuff, on to crafts and more good stuff. You get the picture.

 I ended up filling 3 large blue IKEA bags overflowing with stuff for the grand total of $8. I hadn't had time to check out the shoes and clothes spread out on tarps out front so I picked up 9 pair of boots and shoes and a vintage John Deer traveling sprinkler sort of like this. Mine is faded on top but it is all there and working. I hope I can get $60-80 out of mine. The sprinkler was $15 and the bag of shoes was $4.

For a total of $27 I got 199 items. You think I would have headed home. But you see a lot of those items were small....very small.

I hit 3 more sales on my way home. Picked up 4 more pair of shoes, a bag full of clothes for 50c each, a Vera Bradley bag and more. Just a little bit more.
That's two big plastic tubs full of stuff. New stuff old stuff, girl stuff, boy stuff. A small tote, on the upper left, of 10 Barbie dolls and clothes and shoes. One thing I loaded up on is Matchbox cars and small similar cars, trucks, fire engines. 70 to be exact and an 18 wheel storage truck. And a large lot, from two sales,of 30+ Bakugan battle brawlers.

So why am I so excited about free stuff? At the last sale I stopped at I didn't find anything but these old menus in a box. Beautiful southwest US lithographs of paintings from 1959.

All of these are menus from the ATSF Railroad Santa Fe dining car of the San Francisco Chief train and are dated 1959. They were all on the end of the table and the lady said, "oh, just take them". I thought they were very nice and thought about just listing them in a lot. That is until I did a little digging. They are all lithographs and there are a few for sale and the prices range from $10 to $100. Not all are actual selling prices but I went with a higher price. No I'm not greedy, just patient.  I have them listed for a total of $200. I don't know if I will get that price but I am willing to wait and see what happens.

So....always check the free box. The price is right!!

Stinky shoes...be gone!

I don't know about you but stinky shoes rank right up there with stinky bathrooms.

 I don't like either one.

And I really don't like putting my hands into stinky shoes to clean or polish them. Most of the time I will either spray white vinegar into the shoe and wipe out with a cloth or just use a cloth dampened with white vinegar to wipe down the inside. That usually works.

As for the stinky bathrooms...that is another problem here at the castle. SweetiePie likes the aerosol sprays but they make me sneeze and they are way too strong and expensive, even from the $ store. So to the web I went. I found a homemade copycat recipe for Poo Pourrie spray and it worked. Just alcohol, water and the essential oil of you choice. Simple ingredients, fantastic results.

The poo spray is sprayed into the toilet before you go. The essential oil in the spray creates surface tension on the water and when "something" enters the water the surface tension returns and the odor is contained. I tried several mixtures with different amounts of essential oil and finally found one that really worked. I just modified it slightly to use in shoes and on stinky things.

Here is my recipe:
2 oz spray bottle
2 Tbs alcohol
40-60 drops of essential oils
water
Put a small amount of water, about a tablespoon, in the bottom of the bottle, add the alcohol and add the essential oils. Finish filling the bottle with water. Put the spray top on,shake gently, and spray. About 2-3 sprays are usually enough to cover the water in the toilet bowl. The mixture may get cloudy and settle but just a shake is all you need to do to remix the formula. The alcohol helps the essential oils mix better with the water. You can also use witch hazel for a little bit thicker mixture but it does make the mixture permanently cloudy.

I used a small travel spray bottle to do my trials and I purchased an 8 ounce bottle at the $ store for my final mixture. One that has a very fine spray and just doubled and doubled the recipe.

You can use any essential oils that you like but you want the oils to neutralize the odor, not overpower the odor. I used lemongrass and lavender. Lemongrass smells like Ivory soap and lavender is soothing. I used 40 drops of lemongrass and 20 drops of lavender. You can adjust according to your nose. Or use something else altogether. It is totally your choice. Some people don't like lemongrass and some people are allergic to lavender. Bergamont oil is also a favorite.

This also works on stinky shoes. I had a really stinky pair of leather Sperry Top Siders that reeked of cigarette smoke. I cleaned and polished them, used vinegar and nothing helped. When I walked in the room where they were I could immediately smell them. I thought about freezing them but I was in the bathroom and saw the Poo spray and thought if it contained the poo smell surely it would work on shoes.

I gave it a try and WOW it worked. I did adjust the formula and put a little more alcohol and lemongrass essential oil and less lavender essential oil. I wanted to get the smell out but didn't want to leave an oily residue. To me the lemongrass makes the shoes smell clean, like Ivory soap, and not perfumey. I did have to spray the shoes 3 times before I got the smell out. But it was worth the extra effort to be able to sell them and know that they didn't smell. I have used the spray on a pair of sandals and really sweaty smelling chest protector. Works like a charm.

So if you have stinky shoes give this a try and let me know what you think.