Life Takes Over...Film at 11

No, I have not dropped off the face of the earth.

LIFE TAKES OVER...Film at 11

If things get really busy and I have to restructure things in the ebay selling world, the blog is the first thing to go. I type pretty fast, faster than my brain can organize thoughts most of the time. But sometimes other things are more important. Doctors appointments, groceries, laundry, vacations and stuff.

 I had been trying to get more of the dreaded "piles of stuff" listed and to list more each day. I was doing pretty good until I took off to Arizona on the 4th of February. After a week of hectic family activities it was good to get back home. But the routine was out of kilter. Thanks to the coughing lady on the plane, right next to me!!

The dry air of the Arizona desert was great but now I feel like a prune. I did get to see the grandson graduate from his Army special training and spend some time with him before being stationed in Korea. So it was well worth the trip. I even got a tattoo to celebrate. He got 3 or 4 before he left since they don't officially allow him to get tattoo's in Korea. I'm sure there are ways it is done, but not officially.He'll be gone two very long years and may be transferred more places before finally coming home.

December sales were fair. No big sales, just bread and butter stuff. Lots of boots, clothes and a few collectible items. January was really, really good. I had better sales, sold a big consignment item and overall made lots more than in December. I really needed it for the trip.

Do you take thrift vacations? I love them. My daughter and family drove to AZ from NC and it only took 3 days. Three long days. I got out a day early to get some thrifting in, make sure the room was ok, and generally be ready when they got there. My other daughter came out on Saturday so another run to the airport. But everything worked out great. My handsome soldier has graduated, grown up and shipped out. Kinda hard to let them go but he is ready. He and a couple of friends from training who will be stationed in the same camp were making plans on what to do with leave and where to go. I told my soldier to see and experience all he could because he probably won't be there again. Of course be very careful because if something did go wrong the Army would not want this angry grandma on the war path!!

This was an item I sold on consignment for a friend. I thought it would sell in December but no such luck. I had one offer in early January for $150, listed for $500, and I politely declined.(After I stopped laughing!!) My friend wanted at minimum $450. The first of February I woke up to an offer of $420 and counteroffered with $450 and it SOLD!!! Shipped to UK before I went on vacation and everything seems to be good. I checked and they had not received, still in customs. I'm crossing my fingers that it sticks.

All other sales have been really bread and butter stuff. No highs...no lows...just mediocre stuff.

I did find some great things on vacation and ended up bringing two huge suitcases back with about 80 lbs of stuff. Cowboy boots sure are heavy and bulky.
 For some reason this Brooks Bros trench coat with wool zip out lining was not priced. I wanted it so I took it to the check out and asked. It couldn't hurt. I ended up getting it for $9.56. I tried not to pass out at the cash register or jump and skip on the way to the car!!!
These boys were found at various thrifts in the Tucson area. A pair of Lucchese boots, a Nocoma exotic pair and a plain ole' pair of Red Wing Pecos boots. The Nocoma boots are some kind of snake skin. I can't decide if python or rattler. Haven't cleaned them yet.
Can't forget the girls and the guys who wear business attire. These youth, pink leather equestrian boots are Garnet Hill and the Johnston & Murphy loafers are brand spanking new.

This was an interesting find. I picked this up at the GW bins in Tucson. I know, I shouldn't have, but it was so darn cute.
A childs vintage straw cowboy hat. At first I thought the RR was Roy Rogers, but his name is usually always spelled out. And there is the big hint of an old steam engine with cowboys riding the cars and shooting at the Indians robbing the train. About as politically incorrect as you can get. I was amazed that this made it back in one piece. I packed it upside down in the middle of the suitcase and filled the hat with a dirty t shirt. No additional damage.

Now if I could just get over this creeping crud that I picked up on the plane from the generous lady in the next seat I could get back to work and list this stuff. Why do some people get on the plane and cough, cough and cough. She covered her mouth but I could still feel the air move everytime she coughed.

Those crazy offers....killing me!!

I have come to dread the message alert on ebay. I think its another question or an offer when I don't have an offer on an item.

Now, I don't mind offers. I sold something just recently from an offer on a pair of boots. The boots were $135 and I accepted an offer of $120 and we were both happy. Now I don't consider an offer of $50 and  free shipping on a heavy  item I have listed for $99, plus shipping, a reasonable offer. I got the same offer from the same person on two different days. Did she think I didn't notice that she had the same user name? Did she forget I already responded to her offer? I don't know. But the item is still for sale at $99 and there are others the same price, some higher and some lower.

I spend quite a bit of time trying to find just the right price for what I'm selling. I don't want to overprice or underprice an item. I check sold listings and current listing and try to find a happy balance. It makes it hard when sellers routinely list items with really high prices and then take 50% or more off the original price. Now, before you start writing those harsh responses I understand everyone has the right to price items as they see fit and to discount or not. It just seems like lately that a lot of sellers are going overboard with the 50% off and its killing me. And I understand it is better to put something on sale and sell it than to pull it and re-donate it. And I simply do not like free shipping. When I go to the post office someone has to pay for the shipping...it's not free.

I need to make a sale just like everyone else but I also need to make a decent profit. I'm not talking about 1000% profit but a reasonable profit for my time and energy to get an item in front of the buyers. I know some sellers are able to get stuff at outlets and pound stores for next to nothing. I can't do that. My GW never runs sales, no color tags, no bulk sales, no discount of any kind. They had rather send it back to the warehouse than come down in price. The bulk store is 2.5 hours away, for the closest one. My GW's also don't have carts or customer bathrooms, but that's a whole other rant story. I do try and shop the local church thrifts but they are getting savvy and a lot of the bargains that I had been finding are not there anymore. You have to really look for the good stuff. Yes, I'm talking about you $2.50 Allen Edmonds shoes that sold for $100!!

Is it too much to ask sellers to price reasonably and not put everything at 50% off ? Don't get me started on free shipping. I will accept offers on items when the offer is reasonable but drop the price by 25-40% AND free shipping. Give me a break lady who wants those Disney scarves for next to nothing.

I've worked hard this past year to get educated to buy better stuff and my store is full of stuff that I think is better quality and therefore priced higher than last year at this time. Yet my sales for December are significantly lower than last December. This year I sold about 2/3 of what I sold last December. My sales for January and February were really good last year and I hope that is the case this year. I think...knock on wood... that I can get TRS back in January and if not I will get it in February.

Better merchandise should yield better sales? I don't know what else to do. Keep listing, and listing and getting things shipped as quickly as possible. I do know that losing TRS has something to do with sales being slow due to the search ranking.

But come on ebay, I'm starting to think about those theories. The dark, ebay is against me theories. I don't want to but I'm slipping to the dark side....hello Darth.

New Year's Declarations, Statements not Resolutions

Yeah I survived the holiday seasons...all except the new year. We'll see about that on Friday.

I did get a tree up this year unlike last year with the boxed fiber optic tree that graced our family room. Ten foot ceilings and a three foot tree do not make a good combination. No matter how high up you put the tree.

This year I did get a small tree up and all aglow before the family decended upon our house. I had motivation to get everything looking festive. Our grandson is in the Army, and for now is still in training, but he already knows he will be stationed overseas in February. And he probably won't be home next Christmas because of the long distance to get back and the expense. So we wanted good memories of this Christmas. Well, every Christmas, but this one especially. So we have been festive until our teeth hurt!! Smile....

I don't usually do New Year's Resolutions. The diet one is only as good as your will power and make more money is only as good as ebay and good health is only as good as your doctor. So I have decided on New Year's Statements.

My New Year's Statements for 2016

1. I will teach ebay buyers to read. The W on the bottom of a pair of Crocs is for Women's not Wide, for example. Faux leather is not real leather, really, trust me on that one lady.
2.  I will joyfully refund every idiot that buys something and then has buyers remorse. Well...maybe joyfull is too strong a word. How about just refund....yeah that's better.
3. I will get an appointment with my eye doctor....if I can see the number on the screen...maybe I should put this as number one...if I can see how to do that.
4. I will list and sell what I buy as soon as I get home. No more procrastanation. Well....maybe I should wait on that one. Don't want to have too many statements. Yeah...wait on that one, that's better.

You can see I'm off to a great start for the new year with my statements. Now I have to go get my coupons organaized so I can cash in on the last day of the year/month and use those December 50% off coupons. And then I think I need a nap....no more procrastanation for me!!!

Happy New Year y'all

Loving that thrift smell

My daughter and I were exploring the bag sale yesterday and I found two pair of jeans and some t shirts for my princess grand daughters. I had sorted them out to wash and left them on the floor. This morning I noticed our cat had claimed a pair and was sleeping on them.  When I went to get my camera she went nuts....a very short trip for her.

She was just napping on the bottom pair until I got the camera. Then she decided to explore the other pair.

Ummm...what is that wonderful smell? 

Essence of Thrift Store?  Love it. Really, really love it.
I love it so much it needs a hug.

Ah....life is so exciting here at the castle!!

Where do the numbers come from?

We have a saying here in the South. When you don't want to hurt someone's feelings you just say "bless their hearts". A way to be polite and not offend.

Well ebay has struck again.

I was checking my dashboard yesterday and saw that they had raised my selling limit. Not long ago they raised my selling limit to $595,000. I laughed at that for several days.

Now I will be laughing for a week.

They raised my selling limits to $2,932,819.78. That's over 75 times what I have listed at this very minute. Where do the numbers come from? Random generated numbers? A dart board in the break room?

If I listed everything I have ever owned in my lifetime and everything I have in my stash to list now I could never reach that impossible number.

Way back when I was a newbie seller there were no limits. They just wanted you to list your stuff because everything sold and they wanted those fees. Now everything is regulated and I feel for new ebay sellers when they have to beg ebay to raise their limits. But these numbers are so totally out of reach that it's funny.

Bless their hearts....

Thanks for the feedback...I think

We all work for positive feedback. Its part of the feedback game that we all play. Feedback can be a good thing or hurt your store and sales.

But this is just plain weird.

A bit of background before you judge the feedback I received.

Nike Shox Vince Carter Respect Sneakers

I  had these shoes listed for several months and no bites. I had no idea how much they were worth because there were only a few pair sold and the prices, colors and sizes were all over the place. So of course I started them high at $249.

I finally received an offer one morning last week. It was  for $100, less than half price. I thought I could push the envelope a little and counter offered with $125. The buyer accepted and we were off. I was able to ship that day since all of this occurred while I was trying to get sales packed and shipped. Money in the bank...soon.

The post office did its job and got them there quickly. The next day he left this feedback:

"The undertaker is coming beware. He is rising from he dead. Rest in piece" 

My first thought was what the h---?

Should I be upset? Should I laugh? Should I call ebay?

 In the end I decided to chalk it up to a weird guy and let it go. Six more feedback and he goes to the next page!!

Would you be upset?

Would you call ebay?

Free as a Bird

I've been huffing and puffing trying to get things in order for a big Thanksgiving. I have tons of stuff to get listed and with only little ole me to do it I am not making any visible progress. At least it looks like the same to me. Big piles o'stuff. 

It was a nice day on Saturday and I decided to take the bigger things I needed to photograph out on the deck. I only have twin beds that the grand princess' sleep on to spread out blankets, comforters, afghans and stuff like that and the room is light but not the right kind of light. So I keep putting off taking the pictures. Not any more. Out we go.

I had 5 granny square afghans to get photographed, an alpaca wool blanket, a quillo and a sleeping bag. Plus several baby quilts. Yikes, who buys all of this stuff? And why such big stuff?

I was snapping away when I heard a bird flying over with a distinctive screech. We have hawks and owls all the time since we live on the "backside of nowhere" but this was different. I kept trying to get a good shot but my cheap little camera did its best and that wasn't very good.

If you squint, just right, you can see the white head of this bald eagle. There were a pair of them that kept circling over the creek behind the house for a couple of hours. Several times one would fly directly over me and the house. I guess he decided I wasn't a tasty morsel and after a while they flew off.  That tree in the edge of the photo is over 120' tall and the bird is at least that much further away, probably more. So at 240' he looks that big. Glad he didn't get any closer to me but I do wish that I could have gotten a better shot of him.

UPDATE
Both the Cafe Matina and Mukka Express espresso pots from my last post sold in less than two days after listing. Both have arrived and are working great. The vintage espresso pot hasn't sold yet. The vintage train set has had 115 views and 8 watchers. I sure hope someone needs that for Christmas. It would make my friend very happy and plus I get 50% after fees.

I have been trying to list what I have and staying away from thrifts. I did go to the rescue mission thrift a couple of weeks ago and was surprised to find shoes at buy one get one half off. I stumbled up several pairs of Allen Edmonds, one black, one brown and the same size. Cost me $3.25 each. Already sold one pair for $70 and have the other left. Also recently found some Allen Edmonds York boots. First time I have found boots in that brand.

One other item I picked up at the GW outlet when I was on vacation was brass blazer buttons. I got a full set of Ralph Lauren Polo brass blazer buttons for almost free. They weigh so little that they cost about 2 cents each. Listed last week and already sold 2 jacket buttons and 1 sleeve button.
These are called Waterbury because they are made in Waterbury CT..
Also picked these from a vintage blazer, 60's-70's. monogrammed brass buttons. If I can find someone with the initials FUS or FSU I'll be all set.

Okay, enough relaxing, back to listing and cleaning.