Yes, I'm Crazy!!!

I may or may not be crazy when it comes to listing the bay stuff. But I don't think everything I do is crazy.

Remember this?

I listed it for $59.99 on Tuesday and 17 minutes after it went live I received a best offer of $50.00. Now, the person who responded obviously had a search saved for that particular item since they responded so quickly. I was floored that I got such a quick response because I couldn't decide on what the price should be. It was an open kit and there were no instructions. (Instructions available free on line)

I responded with my typical response when someone makes an offer so quickly after the listing goes up. That is that I don't usually offer discounts until at least 30 days after the listing starts. Sometimes that gets a positive reaction and the buyer just buys the item, sometimes not. Most of the time I will get my full price and if I don't I will wait until I do. It may be that buyer with the low offer or it may be someone else. Who cares if it sells.

This was one of the good times. While I didn't hear from the buyer right away, they did purchase the plane in about 3 hours. Yeah!!!

Of course it helps that there were no other listings on the bay right now, it is an out of production item and I priced it at a fair price.

It pays to be crazy....at least this time!!!

I have the other plane listed and it is more expensive so I don't expect as quick a sale but I will keep my fingers crossed that it goes quickly.

I have a new furnace to pay for and I need all the help I can get.

Have I gone crazy?

Don't think about that too hard. For the people that know me really well the answer is obviously yes. For 

those people that don't know me very well, that would still be the correct answer, Alex.

My SweetiePie is sick. He has been for quite a while. We have been to numerous doctors and have yet to find the answer to the problem. It is very frustrating for him and stressful for me. In the past he refused to go shopping with me for inventory. He didn't like thrift stores, the smell, the dirt. But lately it is the only thing he likes doing, besides going out to lunch. Let's make this a business trip. He doesn't read, doesn't like watching tv all day. He used to made RC models. Boats, cars and airplanes. But his tremors don't let him do that any more. So we go thrifting almost every day mostly at GW because that is the only option close by. Nothing serious. Just looking and walking around and seeing other people.

Our GW only accepts cash. Yes, can you believe that? Cash and checks only. But with checks they have "the list" that they whip out when you write a check. Heaven forbid if you ever make that list.(And they don't have a bathroom. A pet peeve of mine.)There have been several rumors that they will accept credit/debit cards but nothing has ever happened. So if we go I have to make sure I have cash.

We went yesterday and saw a familiar item on top of the glass counter by the front door. A remote control airplane kit. New in the box, never used. The previous owner never even attempted to assemble the plane. Yeah!! We carefully inspected the box and then looked at the price, $49.95. I told the clerk I would think about it. I discreetly went to the back of the store and looked it up on the bay. None of this one listed but similar ones sell for $50 to $500 depending on the model and size.

In my book that looked like a good buy. We hemmed and hawed over it and I finally just bought the thing. When I got home I did a much more thorough search and found one sold in Germany a couple of years ago for $224 and one on ebay in the UK for $200. So I think I made a good choice. But I sure did resist spending that much money for one item at the time.

 
I got this kit at an estate sale last year and it went for $125, almost complete.

And this one was purchased last week at another GW in town. This is incomplete also but should bring between $75-100 and there is a roll of the film to cover the plane in the box that will go for $25 on its own.
But funny thing is this kit was only $3.99. Guess one of the managers knows planes and the other doesn't.

I'm not really into RC planes, just selling them is enough of a thrill for me. If you find them, then buy them.

Thank you Mr. Know it All

I had this for sale
I also had a jerk potential customer email me to inform me that I was asking too much, $35, for this piece of history. A vintage truckers hat from UGA with the bull dog and THE flag.(That is the state flag of GA from 1956-2001 and not the flag that no one wants to display. I truly was afraid that someone would protest and I would have to take down the listing before I sold the hat. But in reality it is a vintage GA state flag.)

Anyway, I had this person email me with an offer of $25, including shipping. I had it listed for $35 plus shipping of $4.25. Now, I didn't have make offer on this he just took it upon himself to make me an offer. I told him to check back after 30 days and if it was still available I "might" lower the price. Of course, I had no intention of lowering the price. He emailed me a day before the listing was scheduled to turn over for the first 30 days and made the offer again. Persistent, but I am way more stubborn that he could ever dream of being.

I don't know who the potential customer was that made the offer but I wasn't about to accept his offer. I had 8 watchers on that hat and I knew I could get my price. And it only took 31 days.

So there Mr Smarty Pants, Know it All. Pffffffffffffft!!!

And to everyone else, make YOUR price. Don't let someone else make it for you. If it is based on thorough research and past experience then GO FOR IT!!! If all else fails you can always lower the price down the road. I prefer way down the road to next door.

Now get back to work. Those tubs won't list themselves!!

We miss you Sheila and Randy

Everyone must move on.

Better jobs, retirement.

But we really miss Sheila and Randy at our little post office.

Within one week both of the regular counter people were GONE!!! One moved up to a full time job in a larger post office but he had to move to a larger town. The other one retired, a hard earned and well deserved retirement.

But I'm totally selfish. I want them back. Or at least their clones.

It used to be fun to go to the post office every day. But now the postmaster is the counter person and some days we get the temp person who fills in at various post office when vacations and sickness requires extra hands.

And the lines!!!

What used to take less than 5 minutes, on a really busy day now takes 10-20 minutes.

Now I can hear all of you asking why I go to the post office every day. Glad you asked. Well, its close by, some days I have more packages than will fit in my mail box and because I want to. My SweetiePie is disabled and he would sit home for days if we didn't go to the post office. So we go to the post office every day, if I have something to ship, and then we run errands or take care of doctors visits or go shopping. Something, anything to get out in the world. And then I come home and work.

But Sheila and Randy were a nice part of our day. Always smiling and ready to help. Quick in and out and on with our business.

While I wish them well, I kinda want them back until we get the new people "trained" appropriately.

And from the looks of things that will be a while.

It really does help...Sell Similar!!

There was a discussion over on Scavenger Life recently about refreshing your listings to keep them up in the rankings. It seems that Cassini doesn't like listings that have a lot of views but no purchases. It makes sense that they want to keep things moving and if things aren't selling they aren't very interesting...to Cassini.

I began in late February with any listing that had 100 or more views and were about to renew for another 30 days. I would wait until the day before they were set to renew and end the listing, edit anything that needed changing, like the recent postal rate change, and then do sell similar. I have had 5-6 sales that hit a couple of days after I renewed and refreshed them. And more have had questions and what seems renewed interest. So, while I didn't specifically track any listing, I have seen some results. Didn't keep track of the total but I would guess $100-150 based on my average sale price. Not bad for 2 minutes of work a day.
 
Recent Finds
I've been trying my best to not go shopping. SweetiePie has been really great about helping when I go shopping but he looks at everything!!! I have certain things I look at in certain stores. For instance I don't look at too many clothes in GW in our area because they are more expensive, just the bins. I go for shoes and household because they are more reasonable. Today I found this primitive cabinet The wood is a little scuffed but not really bad. Each part of the cabinet door is outlined with a routed out border. The stars, moon, tiles on the roof, doors, everything is outlined with a routed border. And a scalloped border all around   the outside edge 

See the plain old wooden knob? That looks like a church? in front but what is that in the back? a hospital, seminary, or what?

I have been on a quest for old slides. I thought I had scored several months ago when I saw a stack of old Kodak carousels in GW but they were all empty. And several more times I have found just the empty carousels. Does GW throw away all of the slides or does the donor keep them? I kinda voting for the family to keep them. Some of the ones I have seen are amazing.

I finally found a few slides.
45 boxes with 36 slides each. 1600+ They date from 1961 to 1969. Its interesting that the box on the left with 18 boxes has all of the index cards filled in while after box 18 just a number on the box. I also picked up a projector at the same time for 40% off. The slide boxes were priced at $1 each, but...when I went to check out they were 40% off. Seems that they had been there since 1/24/16. How did I miss them?  I hadn't been to the Habitat ReStore since the first of the year and they were still there waiting for me!!! I just grabbed one of the boxes in the store and look at the caption for this box of slides!!
Shea stadium in 1965, Wall Street, NY Skyline, the UN building. I can't wait to look at all of the pictures. I'm sure that some are not appropriate to list but I think I can make my $28 and more.

This is one time when I was glad I took time to shop!!!

A New Low Point in Listing?

Is this a low point in my listing career on ebay? 

I have just scheuled cemetery burial plots to list on ebay.

A little history:
In 1964 my parents decided to purchase a burial plot with 2 extra spaces for anyone else in the family. I don't know what brought about this decision. They already had space at two different locations. It must have been the pushy salesman because I recently visited the site and saw a lot of neighbors I remember growing up. Don't get me wrong, its a nice spot out in the country with lots of open space, perpetual care so it will always look nice and good "neighbors".

After both parents passed away and were buried in a family plot, it became my job to sell these plots. No one in the family wants the space. Its not like you can call up an aunt or cousin and inquire if they would be interested in some "special real estate". Their next call would be to the doctor to get a check up and make sure they aren't going to need it any time soon.

I have tried several times with ads in the local paper and have had exactly 1 call in reference to the spaces. Its not like someone is beating down the door to get this real estate. Its out in the country where none of my immediate family live any more.

So....I thought I would give ebay a try. The customer service representative at the cemetery said most plots are resold thru word of mouth by family and friends. My dad would have been 107 on his birthday this month. I think its safe to say that most of his friends and family are not in need of my real estate. They have their own.

So I just did the math on the fees for selling on ebay and I won't be getting rich. I just want them sold. Its not like an investment property that I can rent out or use as a vacation spot.

Ahhh Spring....come on down!!!

We have been getting a taste of Spring these last couple of weeks. A day here...a day there...pollen here...pollen there...pollen everywhere. If warm weather and Spring come with pollen, which we all know it does, then me and my Kleenex are ready!!

If you remember my last post I commented that sales for March were surpassing February by leaps and bounds. Well, put my foot in my mouth. After that post I had two days with a dismal one item per day and those items were 12.99 and 14.99. Goes to show you that it doesn't pay to gloat. But on the whole it has averaged out and I did pass February sales by the 14th of March. Just in time for ebay fees!!

To tell you how dismal my February sales were my fees were only 199.20 and I have a store and the store is 179.00 per month. So I am ready for some good sales.

I have been monitoring my items as they come up for renewal in their 30 day cycle. Anything with over 100 views total I have been ending the item and relisting it as sell similar so it would wipe out the viewing history.I can't say that it is having a huge difference in sales but I have noticed a few things that have sold once I have wiped out the history and made them new. I had two just yesterday for 50.00 total. I think that I will continue to do this and keep everything upgraded. I have also been adjusting some of my shipping charges and lowereing a few prices. Sold a vtg sweater today that had been listed for 3 years. I had just relisted and lowered the price by 5.00. Must have been the magic number. Only cost me 25 cents 3 years ago.

I have been so good, trying not to go on a shopping spree. But sometimes you just can't help it. The spending bug just bites you in the...you know. This time it was a good thing.

Once everything is inspected I'm allowed to begin the job of transforming junk into cash.

My favorite charity thrift store has undergone a transformation. It has gone from a good place to find bargains to a place that has high prices. Pants and jeans have gone from 3.49 to 4.99, 5.99 and more. Blouses have gone from 2.99 to 4.99 and 5.99. Mens blazers from 6.99 to 8.99 and 9.99. And they no longer have coupons of any kind. I haven't seen any color tag days in my few visits. Even though the have gone to colored paper tags instead of just the colored plastic tag holders. But wait, it gets better.

Bag day is back!!! Seven days a week you can get a large garbage bag of stuff for $5.00. They had bag day last year only on Tuesday and Thursday and the bags were $10.00. Finally a price I can afford.

This is about 1/3 of what I got. The rest has been sorted and moved around. A few mens wool blazers, wool sweaters, cotton sweaters, linen pants, linen blouses, jeans, ball caps, knitted winter hats, vintage sheets, pillowcases.

We went on Monday and that must have been the first day because they were arranging the racks outside and were having a problem deciding how to place them. So I got a pretty good haul that day. I only purchased one bag but I chose wisely and filled it up with 29 bulky items. Mens blazers, womens jackets, sweaters and smaller things. I also had a customer loyalty card with all the spots punched and could get 20% off, so my bag was only $4. That folks, is 13.7 cents per item. My kinda price. So good that I decided to go back on Wednesday for more retail fun. I had seen several vintage coats that I should have picked up on Monday but passed on them because winter coats and spring don't mix and I really didn't want to store them. But I got to thinking and figured out where I could put them so back I went.

On Wednesday I was determined to get the best of everything outside on the sale racks. But everything was picked over, it was crowded and I got only one 5.00 bag. But oddly enough I still packed it, not quite as full, with 29 items. That works out to 17.24 cents per item!!

I found jeans this time and several blazers and some sweaters and a dress or two. No high end stuff, just bread and butter.

And did I mention that they have two bins inside with small items. Scarves, caps, hats, gloves, bras, yuckey undies, socks and an odd variety of stuff. I picked up quite a few bras, ball caps, some winter hats and probably a couple of diseases. But everything was a quarter!! Next time I will remember my gloves. I love to dig but sometimes the yuck factor is just too much.


 A fun find in the 25 cents bin. Someone somewhere will NEED this for halloween. I picture it on a big hairy chested guy, just for fun. Real coconuts...ouch.

On a different note. Can anyone tell me anything about Carruth? I found this silver turtle, 1 1/8" long and it is marked Carruth 1999. The quality is good and it looks like silver, weighs 1.6oz, but I can't find anything about it. Carruth online looks like a handmade jewelry and art piece kinda place. Does anyone know anything else about it?

Any help is appreciated.

Okay everyone, back to listing and selling and packing and shipping!!!