I'm Top Rated!

FINALLY! After years of selling online I am finally a "Top Rated Seller" on eBay! Hoorah! Now I just have to keep that status up, I really don't like offering a return policy on my items but it hasn't come to bite me in the booty yet so knock on wood that things continue to sail smoothly and my sales get a bump because of the new rating.

On another note, dare I say that the slow sales streak may be over? I had 3 other sales this week on eBay besides my quick Starbucks mug sale on Monday. And I have sold 5 things on Facebook & Craigslist this week for a good profit as well. All in all this is turning out to be my best monthly profits in a year or so.

Needless to say, that makes me happy. We have a couple of vacations coming up this year and are hoping to cheaply redecorate our living room at some point. I am thinking couch here, lamps there, etc. After several years of the same furniture and decor, I need a change! So some good profit months would significantly help us out on that level.

Here is what sold on eBay:

EnFocus Studio Dress - Sold for $16.99 - shipping

Dresses are definitely hot online right now, this sold within a couple of hours of being listed. I bought this dress last fall before our Dominican Republic trip for $3.99 at Value Village. I wore it once or twice while on our trip and then again when we went to Las Vegas 2 weeks later. It was a cute dress but I was happy to sell it because it is now too big for me, yay!

3D Toucan Mug - Sold for $22.99 - shipping

 This mug was a slow sale, I bought it I think 3 months or so ago. I love it and it was made in Seattle in the 80's. 3D mugs are on my BOLO list and I bought it for $3 at one of my favorite little thrifts. It finally sold yesterday morning for $22.99 with free shipping. Sadly it didn't go to someone local like I'd hoped it would but its on its way to N.Y. lets hope it makes it there safely!

Evil Emporer Zurg Room Guard - Sold for $19.99 + 8.99 Shipping

My daughter was sad to see Evil Emporer Zurg go to his new home yesterday but I was not! I paid $2.99 for him a couple of months ago and so wish he'd have been in better condition, he was in TERRIBLE condition and took a little while to sell but his cool factor makes him worth money. He is a "Room Guard" toy and has a motion sensor you can set him to protect your room and he'll "shoot" at you if you pass in front of him. Funny stuff. As you can see he is missing one of his horns, had a bunch of marks and scratches all over him and obviously had a child that loved him dearly. If he'd have been in better condition he would have sold for a LOT more; check out some of the other completed listings for him HERE. New in box he'd have been worth over $100!

I hope my sales slump is over, there are a few things listed up right now that I would LOVE to sell and be gone, but don't we all?! Here's hoping we all have a good sales weekend and that my sister and I don't get totally rained out while having our garage sale tomorrow! At least we have a garage to put the junk in so maybe we'll still have some success! I'll update you on Monday; Have a Fabule$$ weekend!

I Almost Didn't Go!

I can't believe I almost didn't go garage saling on Saturday! We were over in Leavenworth and Friday was a total rain out so I figured there wouldn't be much on Saturday... I was wrong and I'm so glad my cousin took me with her that morning!

This isn't even everything I got!

 I think we went to 9 sales in all and then she ended up taking my husband back to 2 others for things I wasn't sure on! I spent $24 in total and the above isn't even everything we picked up! I also scored a pair of like new men's Chaco sandals for $9 that should hopefully sell for $50 and 2 dining room chairs for our condo plus a 25 cent hula hoop for Naomi!

The first sale we hit up was a church sale and it was "by donation" except it was kind of hilarious. In my opinion, "by donation" means that they will take pretty much what you offer for the items as this has been my experience in the past. These ladies thought their junk was super special because they were trying to haggle the offers! They told the lady in front of me that a $2 offer for 2 2lb. weights wasn't a fair offer and she should pay $3. She told them she didn't really need them so if they didn't take 2 she'd leave them. They took the 2.

I paid $7 for my junk which included:

2 American Girl Doll Outfits - Hoping for $20-25 per outfit! 

2 Build a Bear rabbits + 2 extra Outfits - Will list the outfits separately and then probably donate the rabbits.

A Bone China Starbucks mug from 2008 - will ask $30 for this!

Now mind you I originally offered $5 for everything, and they haggled with me up to $7. If you want certain prices for things, don't say its by donation! I should be able to turn my $7 into at least $60-$80 so I'm completely fine but geez! My cousin also scored a couple of beautiful quilts and pillows plus a Scentsy warmer and a few other things for $20 - that was a great sale!

**Update** I listed the mug this morning for $39.99 OBO with free shipping and it sold 2 hours later for my full asking price! Love me a quick sale! It should only cost a few bucks to ship too so that is a great profit, my money from the entire day yard saling back and I haven't even listed everything else from the day yet! Whoop!

At the other sales I picked up some Thomas plush, more clothes for the fall consignment sale, some silver plated flatware, a Revere ware mini tea kettle, some pyrex, a pair of roller skates for Naomi, a DVD and a new cutting board for the condo as well. Like I said before, I can't believe I amost didn't go!

Sales last week were pretty good:

Starbucks Ceramic Travel Mug - New condition - Sold for $31 with free shipping. I think I paid $1 for this at a garage sale.

Prana Capri Pants - Wore these for about 2 months and they were too big so I sold them for $16 with free shipping. I originally paid $8 for them for myself.

The best sale I had were the above 3 mugs. Remember the Custard & Pupcake mug score from a couple months back? Well these are all from the same series, just not as rare as the puppy mug. I actually got the Strawberry Shortcake one a long time ago for $1 and Naomi was using it as her hot chocolate mug all winter since it wasn't worth much on its own on eBay.

I went to my local thrift to find a dress for my friends wedding a few weeks ago and couldn't resist checking out the other goodies and happend upon Apple Dumplin and Huckleberry Pie. There was also a Raspberry Tart but I left her behind because she was cracked. It wasn't til I got home that I realized I had paid $5 per mug, ouch! That is way more than I usually spend on a mug but they ended up selling a few days after being listed for $44.99 + $8 shipping!

I will always buy these little mugs when I see them, even Strawberry because I can save her til I have a set to sell.

I'm holding another garage sale this weekend, this time at my sister's house, since she's moving and has a ton to sell. I'm not hoping for a huge profit but hopefully I can unload some old inventory and be good and done with it all! I'll let you know how it goes.

Any big yard sale scores this past weekend?

Our Trip to Idaho + A Few Finds

We had a really fun time on our trip to ID last weekend! There was a lot of time in the car but both kids did really well and the places we stayed were really nice compared to other times we've gone there.

I thought I'd share a few of my finds from the weekend with you all. I have to be honest, I was dissappointed in the stuff but I should be able to do ok with most of it so that will make me happy as long as it all sells!

We went to 1 thrift store in Bonners Ferry in North ID, a Goodwill in Cour d'Alene and then I took the kids to Goodwill in Wenatchee when we got back. The tiny thrift in Bonners Ferry yielded the Willow lunchbox. Not as great as I thought it would be. I also got my first set of rollers in Cour d'Alene along with the blue house thing which I thought was a great Backyardigans find but its broken so I'm going to see if I can piece it out as replacement parts.

In Wenatchee I found the Precious Moments ornament and the Lenox American Bear. I don't think either of those will make much money. Since they are "New In Box" they might do a little better than others as long as my pictures are perfect and I am going to save them til October to list in hopes that Christmas traffic may make a little more money. I also got a cute Aloha Girl series plate from Pottery Barn. I'm either going to keep this because I like it or sell it, we'll see...

We also headed out to one of my favorite antique shops when we were there. I very rarely find re-sellable items at antique shops since most things are already priced at retail. Most of the time I'm shopping for myself and this time I found something I LOVED! 

Vintage scales are really popular decor items right now and I've been looking for one for my kitchen for a while. Over here in Seattle everytime I find one I like its $40-$50 and me being the "Fabule$$ly Frugal Mom" I haven't ever bit the bullet and bought one. Well, the cute little scale above cost me only $18 last weekend and I LOVE it! I think it may have been painted or refurbished a while back but I love the numbers and the dial and the color works great; I'm happy with my antique shop find! Naomi also likes to go for about 5 min until she gets bored when she realizes she can't touch anything!

The rest of the trip was just lots of family fun with a hike to Copper Falls and an overnight stay at Silver Mountain in Kellogg, ID. Its a beautiful resort with an awesome indoor waterpark (that we went to 3 times in 24 hours!) and the World's Longest Gondola up to their ski resort. Dad's rode free on Father's Day and the lady gave Naomi a free ticket up as well so we all went up the mountain (including my dad) for just the cost of Mommy! 

How was your weekend? Find anything good?

I have to say that since I've changed the tone of the blog from deals to more of my reselling finds and sales, I am enjoying writing it so much more and I'm actually getting comments and traffic! I think there are just too many deal sites out there for a couponing blog to be super successful without working at it full time; plus I just don't coupon all that much anymore (shame I know). I hope you all are enjoying reading and keep coming back!

A Little Walking Around Money...

Well auctions and Facebook seem to be the only way I'm making any sales these days. We are leaving on a little mini-vacation today (which I am VERY excited about!) and I made a couple of good sales to give me some money for sourcing this weekend while we are on our trip!

We are headed to Idaho in the morning to visit my dad and extended family for a couple of days. My daughter is super excited to see Grandpa and his chickens that he raises at his house. My husband and I are really excited to try out our new metal detector at my dad's property. Have any of you watched that show, American Digger, on Spike? Those guys find some way cool stuff! I don't plan on finding a pile of gold or anything but digging up old stuff thats in the dirt? Sounds fun to me! I'm a true treasure hunter now! And I officially have a neon arrow above my head flashing "NERD" over and over!

Ok onto my 3 sales:

Flatware may be my new favorite thing! I bought another baggie the other day of all silver plated forks and spoons for $2.99. This one was in the bag and I guess its a rare pattern; its by Gorham and its sterling. It sold at auction for $21.27 + $2.50 shipping. Flatware is easy to store, easy to list (other than researching patterns) easy to ship and sells for quite a good profit! The other pieces in that bag won't go for as much as this fork but even if they go for a couple of bucks a piece its all profit!

This is a Pottery Barn Kids shelf that I found at Value Village for $5 last week. It was pretty beat up with lots of scratches and dings, obviously from a kids room and I had visions of refinishing it and painting it black but I got unmotivated so before it ended up sitting in my garage for months I listed it up on my FB group and sold it for $15. It had a price tag for $49 on the back of the shelf. I always buy anything I find from Pottery Barn or PBKids; it is high quality and it re-sells very well.

I also had a last minute $25 sale on FB last night for another pair of designer jeans; these were 7 For All Mankind. I bought 4 pairs for $2 each at a garage sale a couple of weekends ago. I am saving one pair for myself with the hopes that I'll be able to wear them by this fall and I have already sold all 3 other pairs for a total of $65. Not bad for my $8 investment!

So I have $40 in my pocket for garage sales and thrift stores this weekend in Idaho. Wonder what we'll find in small town Idaho... the possibilities are endless!

I'll do a post on Monday or Tuesday with what we end up finding this weekend! The only thing I'm worried about is the baby being stuck in his carseat for several hours tomorrow...

Where oh Where have my Sales Gone?!

Oh Where, Oh Where could they be?! I know everyone's online sales are slow right now but I feel like I have been finding all kinds of awesome stuff, how come its not selling??!! Here's hoping that either it picks up soon or I have an amazing fall sales season this year!

I had a whopping 3 sales this week, which is better than last week so I can't complain. I ran a couple of auctions this week and they didn't do too bad.

 I bought a few random grab bags of silverware at the thrift store a few weeks ago, there was one of these in each baggie. How come they can't match the set up? They want you to have to buy more to get what you want; its stupid in my opinion but whatever. I paid $10.00 for 5 baggies; this is the 1st lot out of the bags that has sold (4 pc National Dynasty Flatware) and it went for $10.50 + shipping. I also sold a bunch of the no name crap pieces in our garage sale a couple of weeks ago for $3 so I have already got my money back; everything else that sells will just be profit so I can't complain!

My daughter R.E.A.L.L.Y. wanted a Talking Jessie Doll a month or so back. My dad was in town and wanted to buy her a belated birthday gift so we went to Toys R Us and I cringed as I watched him pay FORTY DOLLARS for one for her. She adores her so its all worth it but as it always happens... Jessie turned up at Value Village exactly 2 weeks later and for $1.99. Ain't that the way?!

She sold this week at auction for $14.50 + 6.00 shipping. If she'd have had her hat I probably would have set a Buy It Now price of $25.00 but I'm happy with the end result of this auction! The buyer says they are paying tomorrow... fingers crossed!

These are large Alvin and the Chipmunks from Build a Bear. I thought they looked pretty cool when I picked them up for $1.99 each at Value Village a couple of weeks ago and I wasn't surprised to see that they go pretty well online. They sold for $40 overnight with free shipping. They were large so I was sure it was going to be expensive to ship them but luckily plush is lightweight and they shipped for only $8.65 so I am very happy with that profit margin!

I also had 3 great sales on Facebook and Craigslist this week making me another $60 in profit so all in all it was a great week but I have inventory coming out of my ears and I need it to get moving so I can make room for more, this is garage sale season after all!

Quick Flips!

Remember that $5 Bumbo & tray I scored at a garage sale on Friday morning? Well I listed it this morning (Monday) and just got home from selling it this afternoon for my full asking price of $25! I'll take an easy $20 bill anytime!

A Mish Mash

Well it has been a little while since I posted anything; sorry about that as usual! Sales are pretty slow online which is discouraging but I have heard that is the general consensus with a lot of sellers right now. I've been doing ok getting rid of old inventory on Craigslist & Facebook and we had a garage sale last weekend that did ok. I sold quite a few things that I'd picked up for free plus some old inventory that didn't eBay well so I re-sold it for what I paid for it or a little more. You know those big bags of crap you find at the thrifts that are like $1.99 for a bunch of junk but have 1 or 2 things in them you actually want? Well I usually pick out the good stuff to eBay and then throw the rest in a junk box for our yearly garage sale and at least make back the money I spent on the bag then whatever I eBay is pure profit.

I have been finding a lot of what I hope to be good inventory lately though; my problem is finding time to clean the junk and get it listed! My darling little boy is so cute but takes up the majority of my day so having time to take pictures for listings is near impossible right now!

Sales:

I had 2 sales this week, both items are going to Germany and both items were bought at a garage sale for a total of $2.00. Vintage My Little Pony items are golden.

 Merry Go Round pony from the 1st generation of My Little Pony - Sold for $23.00 + Int. Shipping!

My Little Pony Dream Castle Replacement parts - Sold for $5.99, combined shipping since both items sold to the same person.

I paid $2.00 for these two things and a cool vintage MLP purse that has 1/2 a pony on it. There's nothing like it on eBay right now so I am hoping that I can get like $30 for it! Turning $2.00 at a garage sale into $60 would be nice!! I also picked up another pony from there for $.50 that I need to get listed too. Any ponies from the 90's or earlier always grab - collectors are MLP crazy - how do you know the year you ask? The date is printed on the bottom of their hooves! Easy Peasy!

Finds:

Went garage saling this morning with the kids, it was raining so I only was able to find 2; maybe tomorrow I'll have better luck but I did pick up a couple good things and we went to Value Village afterwards and scored a couple goodies too. Do you all notice that Fridays are good days to hit the thrifts? I think they save the good stuff for the weekend shoppers!

Bumbo + Tray for $5 at Garage Sale #2!

Going to list the Bumbo today for $30 on Craigslist - the last 2 I've sold have been within 1 day!

Sorry for the crappy pic, I'm feeling lazy today!

The above pic is a mish mash of stuff I got today; clothes for the fall consignment sales, 2 pairs of shoes, a mug and a couple of shabby chic hooks for a girls room that I snatched out of a free box!

We also scored the ultimate Disney Store figure jackpot at Value Village. This was 2 of those grab bag things; spent a total of $3 for all of the above. There are figures/cake toppers from Peter Pan, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Toy Story 3, Cars,, Nemo, Incredibles, Tangled, Princess & The Frog, Winnie the Pooh & Handy Manny and a few others!

Unfortunately I don't think theres a complete set in there anywhere but I should do well with these on eBay even if I sell them all individually (yikes, no thanks!) - Naomi is having fun with them for now; she LOVES those Disney movie playsets!

Have a Fabule$$ Weekend!!