Crickets....

Thank God for craigslist and Facebook this month because my sales have been the slowest in 4 months on ebay; hence the crickets title - its quiet out there! I have seen around the blogosphere that most people are pretty slow right now so I guess I won't complain too much!

I have sold quite a few items on craigslist & FB this month, my chair trend continued with a couple of bar stools that I picked up at a church rummage sale 2 Fridays ago for $10 each. I spent $30 total at that sale including the $20 bar stools, some clothes, a backpack, couple mugs and a few toys; oh and a cookie! I flipped the bar stools less than a week later for 80 big ones so everything else that gets sold from that sale will be icing on that beautiful cake!

There have been 2 really great weekends for garage sales already and I was giddy going out on Friday morning! I got to go to a few on Friday this week and a bunch on Saturday at a great annual neighborhood sale but it was kind of cold and windy so I bet it could've been even better if the weather had been nicer. This past weekend I found a few great mid century modern items at an estate sale, a bunch of clothes & toys for the fall consignment sale, some vintage Breyer horses, a Little Einsteins figure that already sold that the lady gave me for free, a few clothing items for myself and a super nice Lululemon jacket.

Here are some of my recent sales just so I have some pics to show you!

Disney Store Jock from Lady & The Tramp - Sold to AUS for $30 + Shipping!

Disney Store Exclusive Giant Lady Plush

I was really hoping Lady would sell for more, the completeds showed that she'd sold for around $75 before but she was so big that after a couple of months on the market I finally sold her for a disappointing $35 + Shipping. I paid about $15 for her originally and my daughter fell in serious love with her so the amount of tears for the small profit weren't hardly worth it. I just don't have the desire to keep around such a large stuffed animal so away she went and my girl gave her a big hug before she left us.

 

I found this little Copper dog on my recent road trip to Idaho at an animal shelter thrift for 50 cents. He sold within the 1st month for $15.99 with free shipping.

 

I am totally on the Lovie band wagon now, every one of the security blankets that I've listed have sold pretty quickly. I got this Carters one at the last consignment sale for under $1 on the 1/2 price day and he sold for $15 with free shipping! Some lovies can go for a whole lot more so I've been picking them up whenever I find them since they are small and cheap to ship.

I've also sold a couple mugs and 2 more vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls so not bad overall but way slower than usual!

Strawberry Shortcake

Anyone remember the Strawberry Shortcake dolls & pets from the 80's that smelled like strawberries? I was a little girl of the 80's and had a lot of these dolls, I wish I'd have saved them but over the years they probably go garage saled away and they are worth a pretty penny these days!

I almost passed up this "risk" at Value Village a few weeks back. I happened upon some one's entire Strawberry Shortcake doll collection that was about to be put out on the toy shelves one Friday morning. I actually walked away from them thinking, nah, no good, but I went back and grabbed them anyway. Without much research I shelled out over $50 on the dolls that were individually bagged at $3 each and then a few misc bags had all the pets and some accessories. I was nervous about this venture and didn't even want to tell my husband how much I spent. $50 is a big investment for me especially on a whim but I was feeling nostalgic.

By the time I had a chance to get home and start researching the names of the dolls and which pet went with which I started getting excited! It looked like at least one of my dolls would make my investment back plus some so the nerves went out the window and in came the excitement!

Most of them sold within a week. I listed them as auctions with high BIN prices and all but 1 sold at the BIN price! I still have 4 or 5 dolls left to sell plus a misc lot and I'm right now sitting at $220 profit after fees and investment! Like I said, I am SO glad I was feeling nostalgic that day! Just smelling those dolls brings back many childhood memories and I have had a fun few weeks selling them all!

I wish I'd taken a big group shot of all of them but I forgot to before I started listing so here are a bunch of photos of the various dolls & pets!

Ironically there was not one Strawberry Shortcake herself in the bunch! These were all sold with free shipping, some sold internationally but most were within the US but only cost about $2-3 to ship because they are small & lightweight!

Huckleberry Pie - Sold for $15.99

Plum Puddin - Sold for $55 at auction after 7 bids!

Cafe Ole & her pet donkey Burrito! Sold for $15.99 + International Shipping

Crepe Suzette & Eclair the poodle - Sold for $29.99!

Peach Blush sold within a few hours for $65!

Lemon Meringue & her pet frog sold for $25 + International Shipping!

The Villains Sour Grapes & the Purple Pie Maker sold for $20.99!

Mint Tulip & her pet Duck - Sold for $15

Cherry Cuddler & her goose sold for $13.99

Apple Dumplin sold at auction for $10.49

Raspberry Tart sold for $15.99

Twin babies Lem N Ada & their puppy sold for $29.99 + International Shipping!



Lime Chiffon - Sold for $15.99

Too bad I didn't find a Banana Twirl in the bunch, she is worth $200-$300 on her own! I will always pick up these dolls if I see them in the future that's for sure!

Chairs!

As you all know by now, I have a very hard time paying retail for pretty much anything. Most everything in our home including furniture comes from thrifts, garage sales, Craigslist, the list goes on! We do occasionally pay retail for items after we've saved and planned for them though, and if I have a coupon!

Recently we bought a new sectional couch to replace our old couch that we'd had for 6+ years and had been well worn through. That couch we had seen at Costco, wanted it but couldn't pull the trigger and then happened to find the same exact couch on Craigslist because the people bought it and it didn't fit their space so we got it for $50 less than the Costco price plus no tax! We ended up selling the couch all these years later for $175 within hours of listing it, an excellent price for our WELL used couch! And that helped pay for the retail couch we purchased to replace it.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that the nice thing about buying used is that the cost is so low if I get sick of something and need a change it's easy to re-sell and make space or find a new fun replacement! Recently that item seems to be chairs.

Last week while out on a family thrift night we came across a very nice wing back chair that had a price tag of $24.99. I wasn't too happy about it but my husband liked it and said we could re-sell it if we didn't like it in the room. It was a very well made chair with quality fabric and nice wood legs but there was a couple of small stains on it so we almost left it behind until we realized it was the 1/2 price color for the day so we picked it up for only $12.50. It took some interesting maneuvers but we got it in the back of our vehicle and brought it home!



Naomi liked it!

I knew right away after bringing it home that while I liked it, it wasn't our style at all. We were about to head out of town for the weekend but I threw up a couple of pics on craigslist for a high price of $75 just to see if anyone would bite over the weekend. I thought with the stains that the best we'd get would be $50. Well, I was wrong because Monday morning I got an email with an offer to pay full price if we'd deliver it to her in Seattle. My husband made the trip over and we made a nice profit on that flip!

Then today while I was out with my son at the same Value Village less than a week later I came across this:

Please ignore the consignment sale prep mess in the background!

Its a leather Luna chair and while we were out shopping at the pricey furniture store a few months back I remember sitting in this exact chair and thinking that it was so comfy but then looked at the price tag and got right up! These chairs retail for $450+ and they are super popular right now because they look mid century and all those collectors of mid century furniture just gotta have one. In fact, I had 3 different people try to buy the chair out from under me at the store before I even left!

I only paid $8 for this awesome, super comfortable, very trendy chair today and I think we are going to keep it a while, at least a couple of weeks and see if it fits in well with us. Best part is, I am pretty sure I can make $200+ on this little cutie if we decide we don't want it!

For those of you who don't ebay but want to get into reselling, craigslist and local Facebook groups are your best bet to get started! Start by selling items from around your home that you just don't want anymore or something you find super cheap that you know will sell. I always try to price things a little higher than my happy price because people on these sites are looking for great deals. Say you have 2 barstools that you want $20 for; try listing them up there for $30. You may get lucky and get a buyer for $30 or you may end up getting your "happy with" price! Always meet in a public place unless it's a large piece of furniture too; safety first folks!