Weekly Update 5/25/15

The holiday weekend proved to be just a "regular" weekend on eBay. I had about $160 in sales on Fri/Sat/Sun. I ship next business day, and rarely ship on Saturdays. eBay's business days do not include Saturday. When people see the expected delivery date next day shipping assumes a Friday purchase will ship Monday - with the long weekend that extends til Tuesday. I've never had a complaint about any items that were purchased on the Friday of a long weekend and shipped Tuesday. What about you? What do you do? 

 

I'm happy with that $160, but would always be happier with more. Here are some of those sales:

 

Vintage 1970/80's Oscar De La Renta suit vest sold for $26

Purchased at the GWO, so I paid less than a dollar by weight.

 

I found this card in the pocket of the vest

Idaho Supreme Court 1981/2

What path did this vest make from Idaho

 to Hampton Roads VA and then to the Goodwill Outlet?

 

Entire 3pc Oscar De La Renta men's suits are selling on eBay for $30-$50 so I have to assume it was the vintage which helped the price on my vest. De La Renta is famous for his women's dresses which sell for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars. He famously designed Almal Alamuddin's (now Clooney) wedding gown. He died last October. If you need some listing listening here is a short interview with Amal Clooney's mom, Baria Alamuddin from the BBC after his death.

 

Another Life Is Good retired pattern hat

Sold for $35ish on sale. Paid $5ish.

 

Found these two Converse for Target shirts in the trash

Sold on sale for $13

Free Money

 

Got a bunch of remotes at the GWO awhile back.

Probably paid $.10 each by weight

This one sold for $9

 

Lot of 9 pcs of Oneida "Impulse" pattern

sold for a best offer of $25

 

I'm getting my second eye surgery on Wednesday so I will probably not be posting again til next week. I'm dying for a Goodwill Outlet run, but don't know if I'll be able to fit one it. Let me know how your sales and thrifting has been.

 

 

 



Locally Sold

Recently I've fallen into a buying rut -  and only picking up what I know. Sometimes I'll browse eBay for some fresh ideas. On a recent Scavenger Life interview with long time eBay seller Amazing*Taste, she mentions searching the sold listings in her area to see what other sellers are finding. What a good idea! I've researched other flatware sellers in my area, but never thought to see what others are specializing in that I am looking over.

 

The following listings were all SOLD within 10 miles of Virginia Beach in the past 90 days.

 

I wouldn't know these if I saw them, but good on this seller for recognizing a good thing!

$400 dollars for Barbie shoes.

How many lures have I looked over at estate sales?

Thousands. It is the beach after all.

Happing Shining eBay Seller

I remember playing on one of these at my friends house in 1st grade.

I think this is a catalogue of fishing gear. Who'd of thought?

Such a nice fabric find.

 

Follow me on Instagram @beach_thrifter

where I've been saving old recipes before they hit the recycling,

and will be posting some unique finds that do not come home with me.

 

Vision & Weekly Update

It's been an off week for me. Last Wednesday I had cataract surgery on my left eye. They were congenital cataracts that were finally becoming a problem. Everything went well, now it's super annoying having totally lopsided vision. I can't wait til the next eye is done (next week).



I am really motivated to list now though because the surgery meant a pretty hefty bill. There really was no alternative though (well, going blind) . So my goal is to pay off the surgery as quickly as possible using eBay profit.

I went to the most insane Estate Sale I've ever been too last weekend. The lady who's home it was had recently passed away. She lived in a 3,500 sq ft house by herself, and it was packed to the brim with home shopping network goods. The woman who ran the sale said the woman was a "wealthy and compulsive shopper."

I bought two of these Joan Rivers fill in hair powders for $2 each.

One sold in couple days for $25

I sold some Joan rivers nail polish awhile ago, so I look out for this Home Shopping brand now.

 

I also bought this TOVA Beverly Hills fragrance for $6

a little pricey but I had sold one quickly awhile back, so I risked it.

(This is a QVC brand)

Sold for $29.99

 

So you can see I'm branching out my health and beauty category.

Other sellers talk about how well fragrance sells. I'm particularly sensitive to smells and so have avoided it until recently. But I've bought three fragrances and sold all three so I will continue to pick them up now if they're not overwhelmingly stinky.

 

This set of 4 bamboo chargers which you may remember I found in the trash sold for $26

 

How has your week been?

 

 

 

What the Fork? + Garbage Haul

I had steady but low dollar sales this past week. A few highlights are:

 

This cast iron elephant door stop.

Paid $5 at an estate sale, sold for a best offer of $35

And this NASA hat sold for a profit of about $18

 

As I mentioned last week, I've been more and more interested in finding trash to sell

 

Today I got a Coleman cooler for my family to use

 

While cleaning it with the hose and some dish soap I spotted something shiny in the crack between the sidewalk and the house.

The top of a fork!

Why do we keep finding these?



 

I found two garbage bags full of old Marine, and Navy uniforms at a trash pile I drove by this morning. Some are going to the thrift store and some I will sell. None of it belonged in the trash.

From last week's garbage haul this vintage Woolrich zip up lightweight jacket sold for $24.99.

I'm feeling like maybe I should have asked more, but I did find it in the trash.

 

Just today I sold the Cranky Ice Cream Maker (again) for a best offer of $35. It was low, but I took it because it's annoying me to look at. Plus it's already packed (ha, ha). Don't worry there shouldn't be a return because this was the new description:

 

-Listed for Parts or Repair-

 

Vintage Rustic Primitive Decor White Mountain Freezer Ice Cream Maker Hand Crank
6qt
This hand cranked ice cream maker would make a beautiful decor piece in your Rustic/Primitive/Country style kitchen. There is rust and aging throughout - it is a decorative piece not for actual use (could possibly be repaired) missing some parts - comes as pictured

 

What are your thoughts? How was your week?

 

 

Boxes Are Fun

Turns out it's not just kids who like to play with the boxes their toys come in. I get enjoyment out of an eBay item fitting perfectly into a shipping box!

 

Below is the 9.25 x 6.25 x 2" box. It fits perfectly inside of the PFR if you need a little extra support for a small heavy item.

Like a glove.

A corner of my shipping area, which I've shown before.

I keep some smaller boxes open so I can easily see if an item will fit in them.

If only my inventory was this organized.

(Notice I've not included pictures of the shelves with inventory, haha!)

Tissue paper and poly-mailers, perfect for soft items.

I also use poly-mailers for odd shaped items. I will wrap them in bubble wrap and cardboard and put it in a poly-mailer.

Boxes that my landlord brings me, or I pull the out of the recycling dumpster behind the office.

I reuse boxes all the time. I usually just tape over the old tape and have never had a complaint. People would be real jerks if they complained about you recycling.

Packed air - this whole box was free from the dumpster

 

Two of my favorite free USPS boxes.

Regional Flat Rate A, and the 7" cube box

The regional rate boxes really confused me at first. I was making it more confusing than it actually is. eBay makes it easy when you go to print the label you just click the right box and save $. It's that simple - and the box is such a perfect size.

The 7" cube is the perfect size for shipping mugs. I've perfected my mug packing method (not pictured;) and it includes the 7" cube.

What's your best packing tip or trick?

Maternal Mental Health Awareness on Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!!

If you're interested, please check out postpartumprogress.org for their Mother's Day rally for maternal mental health! Postpartumprogress.org is an non-profit organization that supports all types of mothers with maternal mental health awareness is their primary goal.

Also if you can spare a few extra dollars please support the Virginia Beach Climb Out of the Darkness event and fundraiser. Or start your own Climb Out of the Darkness in your county or city.

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a maternal mental health issue (not limited to postpartum depression, also including: perinatal depression, anxiety, panic, rage, OCD, or psychosis) please get help here and don't let it go untreated.

I am a "Warrior Mama" or survivor of perintal anxiety and panic, and without postpartumprogress.org I would not be where I am today: happy and healthy and truly enjoying my Mother's Day.

A Cranky Case



I recently sold an old wooden ice cream maker for a best offer of $55.

 

In the description I made some mistakes that bit me in the butt when the buyer opened a case as item not as described.

 

My Actual Listing:

 

Vintage Rustic Primitive Decor White Mountain Freezer Ice Cream Maker Hand Crank

6qt

This hand cranked ice cream maker would make a beautiful décor piece in your Rustic/Primitive/Country style kitchen.

It does crank and presumably work, but there is rust and aging throughout - I think it is more of a show piece than for actual use.

 

Here is the case:

 

The buyer requested a return

Comments:

The listing said that it was old, but fully functional. I intended to clean it up and try it out. But this is a mess, mainly because the top of the milk canister is missing...

 

You sent a message

Comments:

Hello, The item description stated that it was a decorative piece. I will gladly accept a return but I will deduct the shipping cost, and a 10% restocking fee. Thank you

 

The buyer sent you a message

Comments:

Look at the Specific part of you description--this states that the product may be used but still is fully functional.. I purchased this freezer knowing that it had rust, but thought it was fully functional and that I could clean it up.... You never said that the lid on the freezer part was missing! Now you expect me to pay to ship it back plus you intend to charge me a 10 percent restocking fee??? This is no way acceptable to me!!!!! I'll probably be contacting E-bay for their decision on this sale.

 

You sent a message

Comments:

My return policy is that buyer pays return shipping. I will waive the normal 10% restocking fee, but feel that the condition of the item was fully disclosed.
No where in the description does it say "fully functional" - only that the crank piece works.

I am also willing to let eBay make the final decision.

Thank you.

 

This is where I went wrong! I'd listed the item as "USED" not "For Parts" - I was thinking it was a used decoration and all decorations have to do to function is sit there. She was thinking it was a used ice cream maker. And according to eBay:

 
Used: An item that has been used previously. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended. This item may be a floor model or store return that has been used. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.

 

Uh oh. Well I did not try to argue with eBay that I really was thinking someone would buy the piece as a decoration because I did say that the crank worked. Oh well.

 

I learned my lesson and hope that by sharing these details some of my readers will too. 

5/5/15 Update - Garbage Haul

I did not list at all this week and my numbers reflected that. No problem though because I just got a bunch of FREE stuff to list today. Yay for free! There was a neighborhood yard sale this past weekend and this morning was trash day. Someone packed their yard sale up into these boxes and left them for the trash - but I got them first. Inside were some Land of Nod baskets, several tablecloths, a bunch of clothes, and some décor items - and some other great stuff pictured below. I threw them in the back of my car and ran some errands. When I got back into the car I smelled something - laundry detergent. These clothes which were left for trash must have been newly laundered for the yard sale!

 

Free stuff

 

Fossil Toiletries Bag

Brass Bamboo Edged Chargers (4)

Ralph Lauren Polo Zip Up Cotton Jacket

 

I am more and more inspired to find items people are throwing away to sell. It's just so amazing to me that someone wouldn't call for a thrift store to come pick up this stuff, they'd rather just throw it out. I will donate the items I don't intend to sell (mostly the kids clothes) to the local thrift store.

 

What is the best sale you've made from a free item?

 

4/28/15 Update

Hope your eBay week is going well. I had a decent past seven days. My most notable sale was this needlepoint stocking kit. I paid $3 at Family Thrift.

 

Sold for $100 F/S

 

The buyer is also a seller and consistently sells stocking kits for $275!!! I'm not going to share the store name but you can easily find it through searching. In the past month she's sold 13 stocking kits in the $90-$225 range, and dozens more in the $40 range. I'm totally impressed!! I wonder where she found them all. If you're the owner of that store and by the craziest chance in the world reading this blog I'd love to hear about where you source your items!

 

I continued to run several auctions this week. I'm planning on continuing that through the summer.

 

 This suit sold for $44 on auction.

Tops in uncommon sizes to really well.

 

White Stag Denim Dress

Sold $14.99

pay by the pound at GWO (probably a dollarish)

Not a huge sale but I find denim dresses sell really consistently - and the brand White Stag (a Wal-Mart brand) is also popular on eBay.

 

Let me know how your sales have been going!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4/21/15 Update

I'm back with an update! Life always seems especially busy in the Spring. Life reemerges after the cold winter. We come out of hibernation. We naturally want to get things back in order. It is instinctual for us to start losing weight, cleaning house and planning for the summer. We have lots of energy too, and of course an off shoot of all this is yard sale season. There has been too many yard and estate sales in Virginia Beach over the past few weeks to tackle them all. I've tried to hit up the promising or close to home ones.

Last weekend I stopped at two sales in a nearby neighborhood - they were both a bust.. but I "pulled a Martin" as I call it now because of my favorite blog, and stopped at two huge garbage piles right down the road. I pulled out some silver plate flatware, an old in-dash Pioneer tape deck (completeds here) and several military flight suits and a flight jacket made of 100% Aramid (completeds here).  Not going to make me a millionaire but solid finds for sure. Today was trash day in our neighborhood, and I stopped at a promising box and pulled out a Vera Bradley purse. Seriously WTF?

After a SLOWWW few weeks I was getting frustrated and disheartened with eBay. I decided to go "back to basics" and work things like I did last year when I first started eBaying. Yep, auctions! I ran a bunch of .99 auctions on some of my kids old clothes - stuff I wanted out of the house but didn't want to donate. Those sales spurred more sales and I turned out to have the best week I have had since the fall. Yesterday was a huge day for me and I made over $450. This gave me a big eBay boost which I was needing, and also gave me some blog-energy. I will plan on updated monthly or semi monthly with some highlights.

I've been working hard the past two months listing TONS. I had over 700 items for a few days - followed by a bunch of sales, and haven't caught back up yet.

Some fun highlights since I last updated - as always I charged shipping unless otherwise stated:

This wooden serving lotus sold for $179.99

The leaves detach as bowls, and there is a bowl in the middle.

I profited about $140

Purchased at an estate sale in the fall

 

This is a QVC fragrance that I paid $2 for at an estate sale.

It sold on auction for the opening bid of $19.99

This is an example of me going back to basics. I needed the cash flow that the auctions afforded.

Thanks to other bloggers I finally decided to buy some fragrances - so far so good!

 

I can't remember where I got these Fire King restaurant ware bowls.

I do remember paying $2 though.

Sold for $26

 

I paid $1 for this Red Wings poster at an estate sale

I took a best offer of $20

 

Of course it wouldn't be a Beach Thrifter update without me boring you over flatware

This lot of Oneida Tortellini pattern sold for $120 Free Shipping (small flat rate box)

I continue to love selling flatware:)

 

I bought 4 of these at an estate sale. I looked behind a door in a laundry room and there was tons of ziplocs etc. I remembered reading a blog post that vintage types of these would sell on eBay. This is wax paper. The pink box with little mod flowers caught my eye.

I've sold one so far for $9.99

 

I bought a dozen or so Life's Good hats at NWT or NWOT at Second Chance thrift maybe 6 weeks ago. These hats retail for $20. I sold this one for $39.99 Free Shipping

Several others have sold for full price, and some for best offer. I've made at least $15 on each one. This is a great example of charging what you think people will pay - not what the MSRP is. I chose to charge more because these are all discontinued designs.

 

This butter dish is AMAZING. 

It literally still had butter in it when I bought it at an estate sale.

I paid $2, sold for $19.99.

I think the new owner probably gets a lot of joy every time she uses it, it's just so cool.

 

I hope that your spring has been filled with lots of amazing finds and sales. I hope that the pollen isn't as bad where you are as it is in Virginia Beach. Today's count was over 1800! And that you and your families are in good health. Let me know what's been going on with you and your thrifting.