Weekly Update 6/27/15

I had steady but low $ sales this week. That is okay at least there were sales. This phone was my best sale.

 

Bakelite Monophone 40 - WW2 Era Shipboard Phone

Sold for a best offer of $130

 

I'd had this phone listed for a year at $300 best offer. I finally accepted $130 as I thought it was fair and I needed the money. I had another very similar phone - and I accidently sent the buyer that phone! Oops. Long story short we spoke on the phone (an eBay first for me), he ended up buying the other one too, and I shipped the correct phone too. So now he has both the phones and I have $160.

These were both found in the trash by a roommate of my husband's over ten years ago.

 

Island Teak Carving

Sold for best offer of $80

 

I've had this listed since the fall for $200. I obviously priced it too high because I was getting tons of views and watchers and nothing - I accepted this offer again, because things have been slow and I thought it was fair. I paid $10 at family thrift.

 

These two sales made up the majority of my income this week. The rest were items like this:

 

Sleeveless Hawaiian shirt sold for $9.99

paid $.80

 

In non-eBay news, yesterday we were swimming at the bay and then a man came and was crabbing from shore with raw chicken legs about 20 feet from us. (This is a extremely rude and dangerous to do on a beach where others are swimming). He'd been setting his traps for literally one minute and we called the kids out of the water sensing the danger that raw meat can cause. The man who was waist deep got out of the water and told us "Shark, there's a shark." At the exact moment the kids got out, we saw a fin and movement only a few feet off the shore, then the animal surfaced coming almost the whole way out of the water. It was a huge Manta Ray. It was about 4-5 feet and had the distinctive celphalic horns. It was really incredible, although we packed up and left because it left us all a little shaken. It very easily could have been a shark! Rays don't eat fish or chicken, so it was probably a coincidence that it was there one minute after the traps were set. (Unless a predator chased it who was frenzied from the chicken?)

 

Here is an incredible video of rays LEAPING in Mexico.

 

How was your week? Let me know in the comments.

 

 

Defect Rate Humor

I can see the humor in this..

But next month I better get TRS back!

Ramblings & FREE Audiobooks

Clever Ad for a Virginia Beach yard sale,

found on Craigslist and brought to my

attention by reader and commenter extraordinaire Ree Cee

 

I rarely stop at yard sales anymore. Not enough bang for the buck - and while I know I am missing out on some items, there is an endless amount of stuff in the waste stream.  I'd much rather go somewhere like a thrift store, estate sale, church sale, or flea market where I can source a bunch at once.

 

I know most of us like to keep our ears busy while we clean, photograph and list. I recently found Loyal Books a free public domain of 7,000+ classic books on audio! I'm excited about finding this website, and hope that you can pass some hours listening to it too.

I added a new page to the top of the blog, Listen While You List - a compilation of some podcasts and radio shows that I listen to regularly. A new find is What I Wore When - a Glamour Magazine podcast, these are short but interesting interviews with public figures reminiscing about what they were wearing when...

I've had all kinds of time to find these new podcasts because eBay has been  S-L-O-W - I've been listing like crazy, and am up to 826 listings. Of the 50+ items I've listed this week, 40 of it was winter clothes, so those items are not selling (yet). I've been to the GWO frequently lately and I am finding LOTS of winter clothes as those are not selling at the Goodwill right now. I'm hoping that starting in Sept all these corduroys and leather jackets will fly out of my store. Maybe in the winter I'll find lots of summer clothes? I'm not a huge clothes seller - but I love classic GAP Sweaters, vintage jackets, and quality jeans.

Lamb's wool/Alpaca blend GAP Sweater

Paid $1 at the GWO

I've been so hungry for sales that I created a few sales this week that were big %s off. I even put all the items in my store that had 5+ watchers on sale for 30% - so far two of those items have sold.

I don't have any interesting sales to report. How are things going for you this week?

Mid-June Update

I did not post a weekly update earlier this week because I didn't have anything exciting to report. I listed like crazy, and my store had at the highest 780 items and is now down a few. 1000 is within an easy distance and my goal is to reach that number by the end of the month. These are some sales over the past 10 days or so.

 

Vintage JCPenny Helicopter Toddler Sweater

I got this sweater for $3 at Family Thrift

Sold for $24.99 to someone in Brooklyn who I imagine is very hip.

 

This silver plate set of serving utensils sold for best offer of $54

I paid $8 at Family Thrift - They have been listed for about a year

 

This vintage Naval Academy sweatshirt sold for $30 dollars

I got it at the GWO, so I probably paid $1.50

 

I got this switch plate at the GWO,

so I probably paid $1, as it's fairly heavy

Sold for $18

 

I love to listen to different podcasts while I work, and have been listening to Straight Talk with Ross regularly for a few months. (Contains explicit content).  It is hosted by Ross Mathews - "Ross the Intern" from Leno, also from E!s red carpet, and Chelsea Lately. So if you're looking for something new check it out:

 

If you're politically minded this episode with guest Meghan McCain might be a good place to start - or if you're a recovering N*SYNC fan you might like this (my personal favorite episode so far) with Lance Bass.

 

Sales have been "normal" lately, although I did had one no-sale day this week.

How is eBay life treating you? Have you found any new podcasts lately?