Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Collaboration

Sometimes two really great and desireable companies will come together on a project to create a product for a limited time and it helps both of their businesses - remember the Target & Missoni sensation last year? When that happens its not only great for those businesses, its great for resellers in the long run. Finding these items used can be money in the bank!

Check out this great & in my opinion kinda ugly surf jacket that was made as a collaboration from Hurley & Pendleton a while back!


I found this little gem at the tiny thrift store in my hometown a while back for $7.00. I love that little thrift shop because not a lot of people go there, its very small so I can get through everything pretty quickly when I go and its very reasonably priced. Plus it supports locals in my community that need help with food.

I knew right away that I had something good because it had a Hurley label and a Pendleton label on it! Both of those brands are well known to be good resellers online so I grabbed it. Its pretty heavy duty too. Pendleton wool is the best of its kind and this jacket was very well made & in perfect condition.

I brougt it home and listed it up on eBay the next day for $75.00. I think I could have held onto it and listed it this month and maybe got $100 but I was looking for a quick sale at the time and I even lowered the price to $69.99 the next day in hopes that someone might snatch it. They did and off it went to, I believe, Kentucky! Some skater guy is going to be happy and warm this winter and I was very pleased with my very quick $63!

Moral of this story: Always be on the look out for collaboration projects by big brands or designers!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Aloha!

Well Hello There! Long time no blog... we've been home for just over a week now and I have had a hard time adjusting back to normal life. Mainly because we've had some busy days and I just really didn't want to come home to the cold wind and rain of Seattle from the beautiful island weather we had on Kaua'i every day so I have had little motivation to get stuff done! I haven't even gone thrifting since we've been home, crazy!

Here are a couple of pics of our family from Kaua'i!

 
The infamous self portraits haha - this was taken in the spot on Anini Beach that my husband and I said "I Do" six years ago. It was wonderful to return back to the beach with our two children and show them the place we got married!

 
Here's a pretty good one of all of us at the Spouting Horn blow hole lookout. We did SO much on this trip! I was really hoping to do a lot of relaxing and not so much of the driving but we did everything from waterfalls to long drives to body surfing, lots of snorkeling, sand castles and of course shopping! Sadly I did not set foot in a single thrift store :( I was a little sad about that but no one else on the trip is much of a fan of thrifting and I didn't have any time on my own so alas, I missed out! BUT I did purchase a couple of Hawaii Starbucks mugs to hold onto for a while. You can only get the Hawaii mugs in Hawaii or on eBay and some of the older ones can go for a lot so we bought some to use and hold onto for a couple of years to see if our $10 mugs can turn into much more. Plus they were super cute and my morning coffee has been a little brighter lately!
 
Well now that vacation is over its time to get down to business! I didn't have any sales while we were gone, in fact I ended most of my listings so I have my work cut out for me the next couple of weeks trying to get all this stuff listed. Now is the time for your Christmas items!!!
 
Here is a BOLO to watch out for:


This is a vintage "knee-hugger elf" that I picked up at a my "Perfect Storm" yard sale this summer. I remember these from my Grandma's house when I was little. I picked up two of these cuties for a quarter each and re-sold them on Etsy for $9 and $6 plus shipping within days. Some of these in big lots can go for hundreds on eBay, just depends on what ones you find.

But a word to the wise - do NOT use "Elf on the Shelf" terminology in your listings as these are not the trademarked elves. I had a very nice cease and desist email waiting for me on the morning of my birthday letting me know that was not ok so I quickly changed my listings and they still had no problem selling.