BOLO Flannel Shirts

 

image courtesy of Wikimedia

I was browsing through Urban Outfitters Fall online catalog looking for trends and noticed a ton of flannel shirts, women's and mens's. Popped on over to Ebay to look at the completeds and saw that you can make some good money on the right brands of flannels. I'll definitely be looking through the shirts for these next time I'm at the thrift store. The more common brands that garner the best money are......

J. Crew
Ralph Lauren
Patagonia
L.L. Bean
Hollister
Lands End
Woolrich

I saw a lot of J. Crew and L.L. Bean going for $30+ dollars.

There are other brands that go for even more but I don't normally come across them very often. Those were:

True Religion
Free People
Anthropologie
Burberry

I love a nice flannel shirt myself. Maybe I'll pick up some for my own!

Best Sales This Week

Framed Crewel Piece. Free to me. Sold for 37.99 with Free Shipping. This was in the basement of a home I moved into about 30 years ago left there by the previous owners. I didn't really like it but kept it all this time (in my basement). Isn't it weird how we have stuff that is worth something to other people just laying around and we don't even know it. This could have easily ended up in a garage sale pile or a donate pile. 

Needlepoint Pillow. Again Free. A thrift shop that was going out of business was giving away a pillow with every purchase! This is the one I chose. Sold for 28.99 plus shipping. 

Mary Englebreit Cross Stitch Kit. Paid 2.00. Sold for 29.99 plus shipping. I just noticed a theme here. My best sales were all needlework related items. I would BOLO Mary Englebreit cross stitch kits. Check out completeds.

Some good sales but overall sales have been kind of slow this week compared to prior weeks. I've been listing every day but kind of lazy about it. Not really listing as much as I know I should be. Ebay was down for at least a couple of hours this week for me and other people. Were you affected by the outage?

One of My Pet Peeves

Why is this still allowed?

Do you see what I see or rather what I don't see? I know it isn't a huge thing in the scheme of all things but as a bookseller I see a lot of this. I thought ebay no longer allowed a listing to be completed without at least one picture. For many book titles they even provide a catalog picture. So this irks me. When I list something if I forget to load the pictures and hit submit I get a message saying I have to load at least one picture. There are only 3 listings in my picture, but out of 33 sellers selling this book 8 didn't have a picture!! What? So are these old listings that are good till canceled? Are these preferred sellers? I don't know if this just happens in books but that is where I see it. Have you noticed this? What are your pet peeves about other sellers 'practices'? Ah. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Now I can go list :) After seeing what it sells for I won't be listing THIS book.

Extended Holiday Returns

This week I signed up for Extended Holiday Returns on Ebay. This means for anything bought after November 1st and before December 31st a buyer can return the item through January 31st. 

There is a lot of grumbling around the net about the new policy. In order to retain Top Rated Seller Plus you must opt in. I decided to opt in because I want to keep my discounts as a Top Rated Seller and I don't normally get a lot of returns anyway. I'm hoping the policy won't be abused. I don't really see why it would be abused any more than a 30 day return policy. 

The other thing that cemented my decision is that Amazon has the same return policy. This isn't just some crazy ebay idea. Amazon's Holiday Return Policy States

"The Amazon extended holiday return policy requires that orders shipped between November 1 and December 31 be returnable through January 31 of the following year.

This policy includes orders that are shipped by you and orders that are shipped by Amazon."

So yeah. There was a link to opt in immediately in a message I recently received from ebay so I went ahead and did it right away. It won't show up in my listings until November 1st but I'm hoping that ebay will give a boost in Best Match to people who opt in (you can always hope). Another reason I decided to do it. 

What are your thoughts on Extended Holiday Returns? Have you are are you planning to opt in?

Bonanzaaa!

I uploaded all of my ebay listings to Bonanza about 3 weeks ago and had my first sale today. Woohoo! I paid $1 for this tie and it sold for 29.99 with free shipping. It's a Ralph Marlin tie. They make a lot of novelty ties. You've probably seen some around. Some of them are hard to find and go for a bit of coin. See the completeds. Mine is Halloweenish (Dracula) so a great time of year for it. I like ties because they are easy to store and ship (very cheap to ship as well). I don't really have a good source but once in a while I find one or two worth taking a chance on. I see other bloggers who find very upscale ties to sell. I never find those. For me I either find vintage 'wide' 70s ties or vintage 'skinny' ties. I also sold a psychedelic wide tie recently. It sold for 17.99 plus shipping.

Have you joined Bonanza? If you have how has it gone for you? I have been a member for a couple of years but just recently (3 weeks ago) attempted to sell on it. I've also uploaded several listings to etsy. I'm diversifying as I know many other resellers are doing what with all the changes and uncertainty that being a reseller brings. I have also sent in a couple of boxes of books to Amazon for FBA. Previously I'd only sold books through Amazon as a merchant. I like the idea of sending the books in and having more room for inventory, even if it' means a smaller slice of the pie when something sells.

Ugly Christmas Sweaters Go Retail

The trend has been waning and the ebay market saturated with ugly christmas sweaters. I think the fact that the retail market is now producing 'brand new' ugly christmas sweaters probably spells the end to the trend and to making much money off of them as a reseller. Are you still selling ugly christmas sweaters? how are the sales. See the links below for some of the retail market versions. I'm sure there will be more to come as we get closer to Christmas.

Tipsy Elves

Overstock.com

I still have a few left stagnating in my own store but haven't bought any for a couple of years now.

BOLO Richard Simmons

New Amazon Prime Membership Perk

For you Amazon Prime members. Have you noticed the new perk? When you buy something on Amazon using Prime if you're giving the option to take slower shipping than the free 2 day. In return you get a dollar off of a e-book or a video rental. It's just a dollar but I think it's a nice incentive to price check Amazon when I'm buying something. Previously if something was the same price on Amazon and Ebay I'd usually buy from ebay wanting to support my fellow sellers. Now I'm just as likely to buy on Amazon and rack up some money off my occasional video rental fees. 

Speaking of video. Amazon has joined Netflix in producing their own series. I just finished watching the new series Transparent which is available free to Prime subscribers. I thought it was excellent. They load the entire season at once so you can binge watch. Problem is now I watched the entire series in three nights and I want more!!

BOLO Richard Simmons Deal a Meal

Paid a couple dollars. Sold for $39.99 plus shipping.