My Best Sales This Week and Some Random Thoughts

This original oil painting took me almost an hour to package up. I hope it arrives safely. Bought for $2 Sold for $37.99 plus shipping. This was the first time I picked up a painting at a thrift. It was signed and well done so I gave it a shot. It took a couple of weeks to sell. Not bad. I'll be looking at the art more closely from now on. In the past I've purchased signed limited edition prints but this was the first original piece I'd bought. It's longest side was only 24" so I felt like the packing wouldn't be too bad and it wasn't.

Molly Comfy Couch Doll

Took a best offer of $65 plus shipping for this Molly doll. I love good plush! Unfortunately the buyer hasn't paid for it yet. It's only been three days so far. I'll let ebay remind them a couple of times before I open a case. The buyer never did pay for Molly so I relisted her.

Whenever I am doing research on an item and see listings without pictures, usually books I wonder how are some sellers able to get through a listing without at least one picture? For example this one. Irks me. Does anyone know how they get away with it?

Don't forget to list any items you have related to the Super Bowl and Olympics both coming up. I have a vintage new Broncos shirt from the 98 super bowl. Hoping to cash in on! I've got it priced pretty high but I'm hoping some fanatical fan will have to have it. Last I checked it was the only one of its kind.

Hope you had good sales this week!

Free Listings

I just saw this on the Ebay for Business Facebook page. Hopefully we are all getting it. List for FREE—up to 5,000 listings, auction-style or fixed price—January 24-29. Supplement whatever plan you have. List away!

BOLO Fire King Kimberly Mugs

I listed a yellow Fire King Kimberly mug today that had been sitting around forevah. I've been pushing myself to go through old inventory. I have things that are over a year old waiting to be listed. I know, old news...I decided after I got it listed to see which Fire King Kimberly mugs sell for the most money. I did a completeds search on ebay and my jaw literally dropped. My mug is listed for $14.99 which is comparable to others of its color. Check out what the rarer ones sell for....

This clear glass one sold for $360!

and this one which is pearlized/luster sold for $125

I never in my wildest dreams would have thought there were any that rare. And neither of them look special to me. In fact you have to admit my picture is the best of the three ;) I see these Kimberly mugs fairly frequently. Sometimes a store will have a bunch of them and I usually just pick one up to see how much they have them priced at and if I don't like the price, which would be if they are over a dollar, I walk away. You can bet I'll be looking through them all regardless of the price from now on!!

I've decided I need to spend more time learning more about more valuable items. Normally if I'm at a thrift I have a hard time paying more than a few bucks for something. And often I can't get a signal on my phone to research an unfamiliar item. I'd plunk down a good chunk of change if I found one of those clear Kimberly mugs. I just have to know one when I see it. So expect some more posts coming up sharing what I find out as I do my research on items that may cost a little more but will certainly be worth it.

Review of the Show Thrift Hunters on Spike TV

I watched the new show on Spike TV with the Thrifting with the Boys characters. Yes, they are quite the characters. I enjoyed it although I can imagine it will get old after awhile. I enjoyed American Pickers for a while too but grew tired of it. What I liked about this show was that they are looking in thrift stores and picking up some of the exact same things I would pick up. Mugs!? Yes. Puzzles? Yes. Nothing too expensive or complicated in this episode. Their work room was immaculate. I wonder if that is their real work room or a studio set up for the show. I envied it big time. The show kept me engaged for the entire episode especially because I know that they are actual ebay sellers who seem to be doing it the way we are...not just pretty faces. From the little I know of them they seem to have built a good business from the ground up. I had to laugh when they showed how they package a mug to ship using a flat rate priority mailer. I'd always shook my head at that method. But they took one such package outside and wacked it with some sort of hockey stick or something and the stick broke and the mug flew down the street and survived. No damage.

Did you see the show? What did you think? Will you continue to watch?

My Best Sales This Week

The vintage fringe vest that I mentioned in a previous post. Sold for 29.95 plus shipping.  Remember to BOLO all vintage leather fringe items.

A Jansport backpack for 29.95 plus shipping. I read somewhere to BOLO Jansport backpacks. After I picked up this one and researched them I saw that Black seems to be a good seller. It was easy to ship too. I just wrapped it in some paper and then put it in a poly mailer. 

and a Norman Rockwell figurine which sold for 24.95 plus shipping

I've stayed on course with my 2014 plan to each day list as many things as I sold the day before and then at least one more. Some days when sales were slow the day before I listed more than my minimum goal. It's nice to have a goal instead of an open ended 'list as much as you can each day'. I sold two items yesterday so my goal today is to list at least 3.  How are you all doing with your 2014 business goals? Let us know in the comments. 

Also I thought I'd make a list of some good blog posts articles from the week.

This blog post and the comments from Thrift Core were a wealth of info on what sells. Don't skip the comments!

This podcast from Ebay Scavengers and the comment section spoke to some of my fears. There are some days the doubts and fears are bigger than others. It's nice to know you're not alone.

And on the Ebay Life Blog a reminder that a new show called Thrift Hunters is starting on Spike TV January 18th. I have Roku and don't know if I get that channel. I'll have to check if it's available to watch online too. It is available to watch online. 

Have a great sales week everyone!

NWT NOS Vintage

There is a market for vintage. So what about the market for vintage that is NWT. New with tags. Also called NOS or New Old Stock. New old stock can be any type of item. Sometimes NOS can be pristine and sometimes show a lot of shelfwear even though it is NEW. I found a coat this week at a thrift that was Vintage NWT or NOS. A vintage coat that had never been worn. Still had the tags.  Did it come from a store or from someones estate, an item that they never used? I love when I find NOS. I think these NOS items are even more desirable because besides being vintage style they have never been used. How much do you think that raises the price over 'just vintage'? I guess it depends on the item and how collectible it is.  Here is my listing. I priced it double what the completed sales of the same type of item cost that wasn't NWT. Do you find many NOS? How do you list/market those items differently than you do just plain vintage? Do you have sources for finding NOS?

More on the Auto Relist Feature

There is an article on EccomerceBytes Blog about the Auto Relist Feature which I discussed in the previous post. I'm a little confused at this point. Click here and discuss in the comments. Is it saying that you don't have to pay for the auto realists or any upgrades? Is that how it is supposed to work in the future or just until some other features roll out? I dunno. As I said I'm confused.

Edited to add: after reading the article more closely and looking at the form more closely I noticed this pop up box that says

so I guess that explains it. So if the auto relists are free and don't count towards your total free listings that's a good thing. I'll have to think a little more about whether I want to use it or not.