Sum in Up Sumonday 2/23/15

I'm going to complain for a second... This weather has been horrible and I AM SICK OF IT. We were cooped up all week. Serious cabin fever has set in, and I found my normal generalized anxiety through the roof. I was going nuts! I'd love to hear I wasn't the only one so please commiserate with me in the comments:)

Here was the post office this past Wednesday. 

I live at the beach, and there is maybe two plows to be had in a 100 mile radius.

School was closed all week, but my poor postman was here everyday (literally risking life and limb).

I gave him some homemade chocolate chip cookies, which upon re-reading the above sentence seems a little lame.

I only listed once this week. It was Thursday night and I sold a bunch Fri and Sat, proving the more you list the more you sell once again.

Before that was slow. Like didn't sell one thing for two days slow. I grossed about $250. 

On to some sales from the week:

TI Business Analyst paid $2 sold $14.99 in two days.

I'm still selling calculators very regularly. They are on my guaranteed quick sale list now.

Copper Tea Kettle paid $2 or $3 sold $24.00 overnight

Palm Tree Silver plate Candle Sticks

Paid $2 sold on sale for $16.99

From here at the beach to someone in Vermont which I really got a kick out of.

Here is sending WARM weather wishes your way!!! 

If it's hot where you are I'd love to hear about it. Just don't rub it in:)

Sum it Up Sunday 2/15/15

I hope that you're all keeping warm! Today is the coldest day of the year so far here in Virginia Beach, and we're cuddled up inside. It is very sunny and very windy today. The temperature is 20 degrees, and the "Real Feel" is -6! That is COLD for the beach! I really am getting tired of winter. I'm ready to lay in the sand and go swimming.

On the eBay front this was a much lower dollar week than last, I grossed under $300. But that is the ebb and flow of eBay, maybe with the long weekend today and tomorrow will be high dollar days.

These slate trivets (made in Maine) sold for $30 this week. 

I paid either $1/$2 each I can't remember.

This vintage Oregon Ducks hat sold for $35 I paid less than $2

I picked it up the week AFTER they were in the National Championship, I'm sure I could have gotten more. Their coach signed a 17 million dollar deal this week. I joked with my husband that the coach probably bought the hat. 

My dad and step-mom sold this Starbucks mug this week for $40. 

What a lucky find!

Stay warm today, and I'd love to hear about your week and the weather in your area in the comments!

Sum it Up Sunday 2/8/2015

This was a steady week on the eBay front. I made about $550 but I have a $150 unpaid item case open so that brings me down considerably. Cross your fingers that the buyer pays!

Horner Michigan 100% wool Vintage blanket

I shouldn't have bought this blanket, because I bought it online for $40 I thought I would get at least $200 for it, but realized that this brand doesn't bring as much as some

I resold it for $85 and am happy with that.

Picnic Basket shaped locket with ship

paid $1 at a yard sale, sold for $22.50

This Last Supper framed print sold for $28

I paid $6 (I think)

I LOVE the frame on this piece.

Just a quick one today.

How was your week?

December 2014 & January 2015 Money

December Money

# of Sales
74

Amount spent on new inventory
$705
I went on a shopping spree in December when I realized I was only going to profit a few hundred dollars for the year. I bought lots of packing supplies etc, to write off for taxes. I owed no taxes this year.. so yes on paper I made no money. I'm looking forward to paying lots of taxes this year!

Amount of Sales
$1850

Avg Sale Price
$25

Highest sold item
Silver plate flatware set $113

Lowest Sold Item
$5 Iron on t-shirt decal

January Money

# of Sales
79

Amount spent on new inventory
$329

Amount of Sales
$1927

Avg Sale Price
$24

Highest sold item
Car Part $325

Lowest Sold Item
$3.75 Fisher Price Recycling Truck replacement parts
Our toy truck was broken, so I sold some of the accessories

I've finally reached my tipping point after getting the office where I am making money again. This business has never been in the red, but the past two months (Nov & Dec) broke even, January actually had a profit, and my goal is for every month moving forward to be profitable again. The office did set me back for the initial two months I had it, as I suspected, but having it is invaluable because I would not have been able to grow my numbers without the space it affords.

Sum It Up Sunday 2/1/15

Here's a little relief if like me you're going to be stuck watching football all day!

This week was very good and really made up for the slow previous weeks this month. I had a $325 sale, the engine part I mentioned a few weeks ago. That sale really upped my total for the week. Even without that sale it still would have been a good week, because I grossed just over $900. My store was on sale 15% off everything, which seemed to work wonders on my sales. I also took lots of reasonable best offers. I think people are finally feeling flush again after the holidays and ready to spend some money.

Pottery Barn Kids Embroidered Toddler Backpack

Paid $3 sold for $16

Jesus Knocking at the Door Brass/Light up Frame

paid $6 sold for $28

Beaba Baby Food Maker

paid $8 sold for $37

Carhartt Distressed Vest

paid $6 sold for $34

Complete Crewel Winter Scene

paid $5 sold for $30 without the frame

Ivory Lamberton Scammell for Bloomingdale Bros. Inc. 

This plate was one of the very first items I bought to sell on eBay. I paid $.20 for it last March. 

It finally sold this week for $4. This is a wonderful example of how much I have learned over the past eleven months of reselling. My description was terrible, and I had flat $5 shipping on it! Thank goodness it fit in a padded envelope because someone in California bought it and it was going to cost 

$11. I thought I'd mention it as an example of what not to do for anyone just starting out. 

Did you notice an uptick in sales this week? Hope you're staying warm.. I'm not!

How Not to Respond to Negative Feedback

I took a best offer from this buyer/seller. He hasn't paid yet, so I went to check his feedback. Yikes.

Sum it Up Sunday 1/25/15

This week I was tired of slow sales, so I put my whole store on sale 15% off, and added best offer to every listing (even the cheap ones). Sales and offers quickly proceeded, which was nice. I took lots low offers on the cheap stuff, and I happy see it go! Lots of it has been sitting in my inventory for way too long. I want my average item price to increase so it's nice to get rid of the $8 items. 

The following three sales where items that I purchased and listed this week. They all sold within a day or two. Proof that my eye for what will resell easily has gotten much better. Many items that I sourced when I first started eBay are still sitting there, while these moved quickly.

Special Forces Green Beret

Sold for best offer of $25, Paid $6

Wooden inlay clipboard

Sold for $21 paid $2

Pair of baskets sold for $30 paid $4

These cards sold on etsy for $6 plus shipping

Hope you all had a great week. I'm publishing this one a little early.

Sum it Up Sunday 1/18/15

Post Christmas sales have not been great, but I also have not put much time into eBay this week, as meetings, appointments, illness, and every day life took precedence. That is the great thing about being an eBay seller; I can take the time off I need without reporting to anyone else.

Here are a few notable sales from this week:

Vintage Woolrich Vest

paid $7 sold $45

I've had this listed for awhile, and decided to list it on etsy too. I hadn't listed anything on etsy in months but thought maybe the folks over there would appreciate this vest as much as I did. It sold the next day on eBay! Hah, go figure.

Our Lady of Fatima Figurine

Sold $21, paid $1?

I had to do some research on this - I started by googling "virgin Mary spring children" or something of the sort and quickly found the story of Our Lady of Fatima

Waechtersbach W Germany Chess Mug

Paid $.45, Sold $24.99

How was your week? 

Light Listening

eBay is a hands on job. We spend many hours cleaning, photographing, measuring, listing, packing and shipping. So keeping ourselves entertained while doing these things goes a long way in keeping ourselves motivated and enjoying work. While our eyes and hands our busy, it's nice to keep our ears occupied. Nancy, at Third Hand Shoppe recently posted about adding some new items to her listening repertoire, so I'm posting my go-to-listening here.

While driving today I was listening to On Point with Tom Ashbrook, and they were discussing the Golden Age of Radio. Evidently podcasting was hot for awhile, sort of fell off, and is popular again, and soaring to new heights. It's all discussed on the episode here.

Please leave your favorites in the comments, it's always great to come across new listening material.


For Foodies:
Cooking like eBay requires eyes and hands. The kitchen can be lonely and I've come to love these two podcasts. Neither are necessarily about cooking, they are both about food in every facet.

KCRW's Good Food "the show for people who love to eat"
The Splendid Table  "the show about life's appetites"

For History Buffs:
I'm a history nerd, and love both these podcasts:

The Thomas Jefferson Hour
Hardcore History

For Hipsters:

The Nerdist podcast channel, I like Moshe Kasher's podcast discussion series.*
Invisibilia*
The Dinner Party Download

Nationally Syndicated Radio:

This American Life
On Point 
The Dave Ramsey Show
Car Talk

*only listened once in the past few weeks but seems promising.

Genealogy

If you like vintage you might, like me, like history. If you like history you may also love genealogy.

Some of you may have experienced pregnancy obsession. With one of my pregnancies I was OBSESSED with genealogy. I just HAD to map my family history before this baby arrived! It was a primal need to find out this baby's family history as wide and as far back as possible. Pregnancy can cause you to become fixated on something, and for about six months I was genealogy crazy.

Genealogy reminds me of the sourcing we do for eBay. We scour through hundreds of items looking for that gem. We pass by all that filler, all the things we've seen a thousand times. We're looking for that golden nugget. This is the story of my personal favorite genealogy find.

An Inventory of the Estate of Benjamin Goodman, Deceased 1782

One of my 7x great grandfather, Benjamin Louis Goodman died during the Hayes' Station Massacre during the Revolutionary War. He was born here in Virginia, but settled in South Carolina with his wife Moriah, and their 10 children. This inventory of his estate was taken by her in her hand, in March 1782, five months after his death.

I count myself blessed to have a copy of this very interesting family history. Not only is it a very thorough inventory of the family's personal belongings, but it is also in my 7x great grandmother's handwriting, at a time when many women could not write. 

I almost didn't obtain this piece of history. I almost didn't look in the right places, make the extra effort, or ask the right questions, and this very cool part of my family history (and many other's as this man had ten children) could have been buried in a courthouse forever more. But luckily my pregnancy hormones would leave no stone un-turned. 

I can't remember why I decided to call a particular courthouse in South Carolina, but I called to try and find a copy of Mr. Goodman's will. I had a file number for him, so that was a start. I could tell the lady on the phone was not enthused about going into the deep catacombs of an old southern courthouse, but she promised to and call me back in an hour or two. When she did she told me she was sorry there was no will. Bummer. She started to hang up, but I quickly asked what the papers were "oh just some legal things" I asked her to send me copies anyway.

I had to send them a check first. This was so old school, but would you believe it was 2013?

A week after my check cleared I got a big thick envelope in the mail. It contained many more papers than I imagined. Including this wonderful inventory. 

Can you imagine what a Revolutionary era kitchen looked like? Smelled like?

43. two small copper skillets

44. one spice morter & pestle

45. one frying pan

46. one coffee mill

Reading over this inventory was like a trip back in time. It also taught me the important lesson of making the extra effort. If I hadn't called that courthouse I would have never known that such a gem lay hidden. Same goes for eBay. Sometimes we might be nervous of trying something new, like going to an auction or an estate sale. Sometimes we may not dig or ask questions at a yard sale. So go ahead, make that extra effort and you might uncover something really cool. 

Below are the full inventories and some VA Beach genealogy links. 

What is your favorite all time find, even if you kept it for yourself? Do you have any cool family history stories?

Virginia Beach Genealogy Links:

VA Beach Genealogical Society

VA Beach Family History Center

VA Beach Public Library Genealogy Research Department