Thanksgiving Post

What am I thankful for this Thanksgiving? I'm thankful for my fellow reselling bloggers and forum members who share their knowledge. I've been reselling seriously for 3 years now and I have learned so much. I can't imagine what I'd have done without all the help I received along the way and still do to this day. I've learned the ins and outs of shipping, taking photos, buying, dealing with difficult customers and more. How to get out stains, wrinkles, marks on books...taking off stickers. The list goes on and on. So today I'm going to share a couple of my favorite tips with you readers and a picture of a listing I made today. I'd had the item for over a year and didn't know what it was. Some people at this facebook group helped me out in short order. It's a Pipe Jar. Who knew? You put your tobacco in there to keep it all pretty lookin'. So if you see such a thing its not just a decorative candy dish (yes, I thought maybe...). Here is a link to the listing. I'm asking a lot but I just don't know how much to list it for so I have high hopes.

Next a couple of my favorite tips I've learned from other resellers.

1. To get price stickers off of paper without damage use lighter fluid. Dip a cotton swab in the lighter fluid and wet the sticker edge. Let it sink in a few seconds and then start working the edge with the swab. Most will come right up.

2. Have clothing that has wrinkled from sitting in a bin too long before it got a picture? Use a spray bottle with water, a touch of vinegar, and a little hair conditioner. Spray it on the clothing and then fluff out the wrinkles. I love this one.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. 

Black Friday Coming Soon

Four more days to list before the biggest selling day of the year and the countdown to Christmas. I'm trying list as much as possible in the next few days so that I will have as much inventory in my store for the long weekend buying frenzy (hopefully). I've already been having much better sales the last couple of weeks so I'm hoping it continues to get better and better!

In other news I bought a big bag of Barbie and dollhouse furniture a while back and have been cleaning it up and getting it ready to list. I'm not sure why but I'm having so much trouble taking pictures of some of the pieces. The picture below is one example of the bad pics. I had great light.

Any advice? I took several pictures of this table and they were all blurry.

Speaking of pictures I'm looking into getting a new camera for my ebay photos. I currently use a Canon Power Shot which I have liked and used for a couple of years. I'd like to get better photos though. Any suggestions? What camera do you use?

Some BOLOs for the Holiday Season

There's not much time to shop for items to resell for Christmas but I thought I'd list a few BOLO (be on the lookout) for items that Christmas shoppers are shopping for. I'll still be picking them up if I find them for a good price. The first item I bought last year at the after Christmas sales at two thrifts. They are those plastic electric candles that people put in their windows. You can find them singly or candelabra style. They are also called candoliers. Something I didn't know before. I've sold two lots of in the last couple of days..within days of listing.  Some people sell them with the bulbs but I don't have enough of the right size bulbs so I sold them nekid. I did use my bulbs to test each one to make sure they all worked. I have one more set to list but the sun is behind clouds today so they are going to have to wait until I get some better light. I sold the first set of 8 pictured below for 14.99 plus shipping. I priced them lower because two of the bottoms had chips. The second set had two more candles and none chipped and it sold for 24.99 plus shipping. They are easy to ship. I just put them into poly mailers and then into a box. I think I got all of them for under 5.00 plus I still have one more set to list. So I think I'll make at least $65 dollars from that 5.00 purchase. The last set I'm going to ask a little more for since they are selling so fast.

 

Another item to keep on your radar are the little santa outfits for babys/toddlers. Mine sold for 19.95 w/ free shipping within days of listing. I imagine the little red velvet dresses and vest/pants would do well too. I think people want these for pictures on Christmas but don't want to pay full price for new when it will probably only be worn once for a few hours. What items are on your BOLO list for Christmas selling? 

Reselling Doubts

If you have a reselling business and ever have doubts and fears, head on over to Thrift Core. Van wrote a great post on her reselling business and the doubts and worries that come along with it. Make sure you read the comments too.

I certainly have my share of doubts about what I do. I won't go into them now because Van did a great job over on her blog. I can relate to pretty much her whole post. How about you? Do you have doubts and worries about reselling? Do you ever think about going back to working for the man?

I listed this little vintage Schmid music box recently. I've got a video of it in the listing. Does anyone recognize the song? Please leave me a message in the comments if you do. 

Ebay for Business Facebook and Youtube Pages

I'm enjoying reading the Ebay for Business Facebook page and Youtube pages. They have Twitter too but I don't tweet. I barely Facebook either.

What do you think?

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/app_349313058487732

November 11th - Recent Interesting Finds

I bought this Vintage Shearling Vest at the Salvation Army when they were having a clearance sale on all clothing. It was something like 67 cents for any piece of clothing. I went through all the vests and coats to see what I could find. When I went to research this vest and took a closer look I saw that it was made in New Zealand and was real wool/leather. It is unbelievably soft and for some reason smells like caramel. I then got curious and had to do some research into what shearling wool was. I did something that I rarely do and listed this at auction...I'm really not sure how to price it so I'm hoping it will go higher. Shearling Vest

SOLD for $149.00 plus free shipping BIN

Another interesting find were these vintage Deka Cups and Bowls. I didn't think that much of them when I found them as they were really dirty. They were in a bag with a Cabbage Patch Doll thermos which was really what I was after. Turns out the thermos isn't worth much but the Deka Cups and Bowls are. The bigger the set the better. Some listings even have a pitcher as well. Do you remember these from your youth? Apparently some people do and are willing to pay but they don't ring a bell with me.

.

What?!? I Beat Ebay!

I started this blog Third Hand Shoppe exactly a month ago on Oct 8th. I know I'm a little late in the game as far as starting a reselling blog....BUT... I am thrilled to realize I beat ebay who just started a blog this week!!  LOL. Patting myself on the back..Their blog is so new I'm having trouble finding it again to link to it. Hah! It doesn't come up in a Google search for 'ebay blog'. Well I'm going to have to look harder 'cause that is what this post is about. Excuse me for a minute. .............................................Well that took a while. I had to go to the community boards and do a search. So here is the link for eBay for Business Blog. Did you know eBay has a blog now? What do you think of it? I've read a few of the posts and so far I'm not hooked but it's still new. I hope it grows into a good tool for sellers. I like the concept and hope it contains unique information. I mean I hope it isn't just a repeat of what is in our eBay messages and newsletters. So take a look. Tell me what you think.

And check out one of my more unique listings this week.

I found this artsy jacket by Liz & Me in the Halloween section at Goodwill after Halloween when they had 75% off. I think it's cute and hoping someone else does too.

Zim's Nutcracker - Do you Know his Name?

I bought this nutcracker the other day at the goodwill. I could tell it was made well but I don’t know anything about nutcrackers and had never before seen an unpainted one. He was a little more than I like to spend on an unknown at $2.99 but I looked him up on my phone and saw that others of that brand can sell well. So I purchased him. When I got home I started doing research and found out that this company makes other wooden objects and has relatively recently started making nutcrackers. They have all sorts of fun characters. You can buy them in kits and decorate them yourself. The problem is after looking at all the listings on ebay, current and sold and pictures on Google I cannot place which character he or she is. Maybe it’s rare and worth lots of money! That’s always my dream scenario. He/she has a  long gown/dress so he’s not one of the nutcrackers with pants which it seems most have…it seems that most of them are men. so I listed him here and am hoping some kind collector of Zim nutcrackers will come along and put a name on him for me. Or maybe he's generic. Ready to become whomever the buyer decides him to be.

Buying for an eBay store brings you in contact with so many different objects that most people pass by. It opens little windows into so many different worlds that I never knew were out there. I like that part of the business. How about you? Do you find yourself buying things you don't know anything about or stick to the areas/niches you specialize in?

SOLD for $30 plus shipping