Buzz Lightyear Toy Help

I picked this cute little toy up with the idea that I could take the screws from the base and remove the clear dome and re-glue Buzz in his spot.


After all, it was half price day and he was only 99c to begin with.

I have looked and looked trying to find another one like this but no luck. I have googled every combination of Buzz spaceship, rocket, rocketship, toy and whatever. No luck.
Did I mention it lights up and spins? Because Buzz is loose in the dome, he gets thrown to the side and makes the whole thing wobble. I wish I could fix it but when you take the screws out the dome doesn't come off. Hopefully someone will figure out a way to fix it and have it spin correctly

Has anyone seen one like this?

Free is a GOOD Thing

Way back in December, New Year's Eve to be exact, I got the bug to get out of the house and go thrifting. We aren't a big celebration family for New Year's Eve, so off I went.

Long story short, I picked up a bunch of free stuff. Apparently lots of folks were trying to beat the donation deadline and donated a bunch of toys. New, nearly new and broken.

It took me almost a week to get all of the free items listed. Some were donated, some went to the family and some were trash. The selling has been slow but it has been worth the wait. I have sold 17 items for a total profit of $206. Not bad for free stuff.

Now a word for all of you non-international sellers out there. I made my biggest profits from international sales.

This Thomas Train, Percy with remote control, went international for $25. With fees, discounts and all of my expenses I made $24.53 profit. And I hesitated listing this right after Christmas. But most families have little ones with birthdays right after the holiday and they are looking for reasonably priced gifts after the Christmas spending frenzy. Been there myself.

This lightweight CD (new, sealed) went international for $10. With fees, discount and all of my expenses I made $10.62 profit.
Another lightweight CD (new, sealed) that went international for $10. With fees, discounts and all of my expenses I made $9.67 profit. Glad to get Barney out of the house!!

If you aren't selling international for items that can go first class you might want to try a few items and see what happens. They may sit there for a couple of months but the return is worth it. I know several of the items I have sold international I sold because I am willing to ship international and I priced them on the higher end of similar items already listed.

Of course, having no money invested in the free items makes taking an international risk a no brainer.

Painting and Outlet Update

This has been my life this past week. Painting one of our bedrooms that really, really needed painting before our daughter moved back in, but didn't get done. Now that she is in her house I need to get both bedrooms painted. The walls were a lovely neutral beige. Yuck. Now they are an ever so soft gray. I'm getting this ready for the two little princess granddaughters for when they spend the night or are tracked out from school. Their favorite colors are pink for one and aqua for one.So the accent colors will be pink and aqua. I thought the gray walls would be pretty  with white furniture and pink and aqua accents. I picked the paint up at the Habitat Restore store for $4 a gallon. Also picked up a vintage 40's iron bed frame that will be painted white. At a yard sale last year I picked up a trundle and mattresses. So far everything I have done to the room or picked up for the room has been thrifted. I have enough other furniture odds and ends to almost fill the room. I do need a bookcase and comfy, upholstered chair or bean bag for the reading corner but I am waiting until I find one I can thrift.

Looks like blue, but it really is a light gray. Did I mention
how much I dislike 10' ceilings? Everything has to be on
the ladder.

 I haven't been thrifting but once this week. On a quick trip to somewhere else I stopped at the GW and picked up a pair of sandals and a burgundy down comforter. I guess I want it to be warm so I am looking at warm weather things. (comforter doesn't count!) I picked these up just because they had Vibram soles. Little did I know that they would be a good thing. Oh, did I mention that they were new? "Squeee"

Vionic brand orthopedic sport sandals with Vibram soles.

I am getting some of my stuff from my trek to the outlet listed. After cleaning and photo time it had to get in line behind my haul of denim jeans. These JCrew chukka boots have been sitting in the tub just waiting for their turn in the spotlight. They finally went up yesterday morning, and by supper time they were gone!!
 
 Love it when they sell fast. Gets me motivated to get more stuff listed.

On a Rx run to Wally World I spotted these in the clearance section. What? I just bought the princess granddaughter one for Christmas and now they are in clearance? Marked down to $19. Not a super markdown but will be able to at least double my investment. There were three of the My Life dolls in the clearance section and all were mermaids. Too cold for mermaids in March? They now have a warm place at my house. Check your Wally World because they may have some goodies in the clearance section.

Last week I was making my rounds and decided to do a quick stop at a thrift that I very rarely get to. There are two across the street from each other, so I made it a double stop. One yielded nothing and the other this
little treasure trove. A Medela breast pump and a Wms-Sonoma hand blender. The Medela did have the AC converter in the box with it and while I did check the pump before purchase I didn't take the converter out of the box. When I got home, the pump worked but someone had cut the cord on the converter, making it worthless. $25 down the drain because I didn't check the cord. Don't be me, check the cord!! Still a good deal for $3. Don't know why but the hand blender had an extra set of attachments, factory sealed, with the complete set. I didn't see them in the bag when I bought the hand blender. Yeah...extra stuff to sell for no extra investment!!

I've got the pump listed but I'm still looking at two big laundry baskets of stuff just sitting here looking at me and wanting to know when they get their chance to be in the spotlight.

Soon, baby, soon.

Today is Pi(e) Day

For all us nerds, today is Pi(e) Day. Why? 3.14.14

So have some pie and think of geometry.

Or better yet, just have some pie.

I'll have chocolate cream pie with meringue, please.
or coconut pie...
or pecan pie...
or pumpkin pie...
or Mississippi mud pie...
or apple pie...
or chocolate chess pie
or all of the above.

And also, how many times do you get to make the pi(e) reference in your blog title in one month?

I SAW ONE!!!

I saw a Garage Sale sign today.

Be still my heart. Spring may be a'coming round the bend.

After the last couple of days of dreary, cold rain we got out this morning and saw a sign. Of course SweetiePie didn't want to stop and it was too late for me to go back out once we got home.

But, I saw it. It was really there!!!

Pi(e), Magic Wands and Addoway

I hope March has been better to you than me.

I finished up February with a "pffffftt". It may have been a short month but I did have my sales.
Yep...I hit 3 daily sales. Again, some days singles sales only to make them up in the next day or so. So I ended up with 3.14 sales for the month.  Hence the pi(e).

I know I shouldn't complain with 88 sales for the month of February, but I kinda get used to having enough to pay bills and buy groceries and gas. You know, its habit forming that surviving thing.

While at the GW outlet I picked this up for the little princess' dress up box.

Press the button on the handle and the star flashes and makes "magic" sounds, like tinkerbell. Turns out it is just a toy and not the real thing. I tried waving it over my phone to make it ka-ching but no luck. I tried waving it over my items as I was listing them, but ditto on the no luck.

I need to wave the d@^^# thing over March on the calendar. Maybe it would perk things up some. So far in March I have sold 8 items averaging just over $15 each. Now, while not good, it is sales. I started out March on Saturday with no sales. It has been a long time I've had a day with nothing, especially a Saturday. I swear I am running out of cheap things that I have listed. Maybe I should just list all of the items I have for sale under $10 in a special place so customers could just buy those. Geeze, it is certainly frustrating.

I have been searching for alternative selling venues on the internet. Craigslist here is very spotty and I really don't like strange people coming to my house or meeting them in the parking lot somewhere. Kinda creepy and these days you never know. The few times I have met ebay buyers they never have correct change even though I reminded them to bring the correct amount. What, didn't they know what the price was before they met you?

Does anyone have a store on Addoway? I just imported all my items from ebay to Addoway last night. Nothing yet, but it was simple. The site is linked to various social media sites so you can "buy from friends or friends of friends". I seriously doubt that I have any friends that have purchased from Addoway or know anyone who has purchased there. I really don't want to link to my blog since I discuss my finds, where I purchased them and the cost. That couldn't be helpful to sales!! There is no place on Addoway that tells how many items or how successful they are sales wise. The site is free to list and sell or you can purchase a pro membership for $8.95 a month to "increase views and sales up to 6x.." I don't know how easy it will be to ship or invoice or communicate. Nothing going on over there for me yet.

I can tell you that their site is clean and my pictures and templates show up very well. On Bonanza the listings all have the titles squished together and the photos are sometimes wonky. At least on Addoway things import clean. I did purchase the pro membership primarily to have them sync my sales on Addoway and ebay so hopefully I won't have something sold on ebay and it still show up on Addoway.  Anyway, I'm willing to try it for a couple of months to see how it goes. You can check out Addoway here.

I think I'll go put fresh batteries in the magic wand. Maybe that's what it needs, a power boost.