Let's Put That Week Behind Me

Well my bad week of sales eventually turned around with of a couple of good sales. It still was a record slow week as far as number of sales.

I sold this vintage wool rug. I paid about $100 for it and sold it for $450.

I had just recently listed these two shirts and they sold within 24 hours of each other to different people.
I paid $3 for this Green Bay Packers Hawaiian shirt and sold it for $34.99.

I also paid $3 for this cool Cubs shirt and it also sold for $34.99. It's part of the 'Cooperstown Collection'.

This weekend was spent visiting family. I did zero thrifting. Instead I sat in a park, swam in a pool with a view of the sun setting in the harbor in Lake Michigan and had Eggs Benedict for breakfast. Ahh.

Today it's back to work. I'm hoping this week picks up. 

Sales This Week

No kidding. This is all I sold this week. 

Paid 50 cents. Sold for $9.99 plus shipping. 

I called ebay today. No resolution but they said they would make a report and look into it. I hope this turns around. It scares me how little control I have. I've been listing all week. 

UPDATE:

Since my phone call to ebay I've had two good sales, each $35 and a question from a potential buyer. Maybe my call did some good. Maybe it is just coincidence. Customer support sent me a message with all kinds of tips on how to increase sales. Many of them things I already do. 

Charleston Church Shooting

This latest mass shooting in Charleston makes me feel I should say or do something.  It is so sad. So senseless.

I don't normally get political on my blog but I feel like I need to publicly say something. Right now I am embarrassed and disgusted by the country I live in.  I'm so sick of hearing of innocent people being killed because almost anyone can get a gun. Often the mentally ill, teenagers or young adults. Is this what freedom means? Free to kill people attending bible study? The continued racism. The police shootings. Everything seems to be getting worse.  Something needs to be done to change this.

I grew up in a family where the men hunted and fished. There were several guns in our home. I believe in the right to have guns for hunting and personal protection but I don't think that means we should not have greater gun control.

I thought this article about how other countries view us was interesting.  It kind of makes me want to move.

Trip Report!

Oh NO!!

image courtesy of pixabay

One of my favorite thrifts up north CHANGED! Not sure what happened. Different management? Prices were hiked way up and the store was a mess. The books were on a shelf two rows deep so you couldn't see the books in the back row. I used to love to shop for books here because they charged $5 a bag for books. Bins were so full you couldn't pull the bin out to look in it. Oh well. Move on. 

I did spend $2.11 on two neckties and a mug. 

Another of my favorite thrifts changed as well since I'd been there. They went from a regular Goodwill to a clearance center. Everything except clothing was 50% off the ticket price. Woohoo! They get cast offs from other Goodwills in their district. So that was fun. I bought a few items. 

At another of my favorite thrifts I found this B Kliban rubber stamp (pictured below). I realize my photo isn't very good. It was one I took with my phone. BOLO all B Kliban items. Books, sheets, greeting cards etc. Very collectable. Here are recent solds. I've got this stamp listed for $34.99 plus shipping.  See this rare stamp.  I've also sold two Kliban books in the past. If you don't recognize this cartoon cat he was created by the artist B Kliban who died in 1990. He originally did cartoons for Playboy magazine. 

I ended up only spending a total of about $60 visiting my fave thrifts up north (five in total). Not much. I'd hoped to find some more things but I got plenty of bread and butter items. I also got some free stuff to list from my sister. She doesn't want any money from the sales, just told me to save the money I make to pay for gas to come visit her more often :) Win win. 

While I was gone (six days) I left my store open and just changed my handling time to five business days (per Scavenger Life) using the bulk editor. I had a great sales week with over $300 in sales. I did list a few items from the road on my phone but there were days when I didn't list anything. It made me feel a lot better about taking six days off to know that I was still making money. In the past I had put my store on vacation with invisible listings so as not to lose my Top Rated Seller status but made no money. This works much better. I had 18 items to ship when I came back home. I did 16 today and will hit the other two tomorrow….when I find them. 

I learned about a new tool while I was visiting my sister that I have to have as an ebay seller who sells clothing. It's a snag fixer for sweaters and other knitted items. My sister showed me on her own sweater how she pulls a snag through and it looks like it was never there. And it's cheap!!

Road Trip

Off on a five day road trip this week to see family and source for ebay. I changed my handling time from one to five business days. With the weekend that will give me a couple of days to ship once I get back home. I just left home yesterday and have already sold four things even though my handling time is longer. I'm lovin' that. I used to put my store on vacation and lose the sales when I'd be away for several days.

I get to visit a few favorite thrifts while I'm away. Small town thrifts vs my regular medium sized city thrifts. I'm looking forward to it.

My favorite is hard to navigate with a cart. It's a small place and things are close together. You can fill a grocery bag full of books for $5. It's where my first big flip came from. An early edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. I made $100 on that. Who knows what I'll find this time. I hope to fill my car with new treasure. So long. See you in a few days.