My Best Sales This Week

Vintage Electric Angel Tree Topper. I can't remember what I paid for this. Sold for 22.95 plus shipping. Christmas type sales are picking up. I also sold a lot of satin beaded ornaments this week and a set of Santa nesting dolls last week. 

I had been picking up vintage tablecloths for a while and had amassed a pile that was just sitting and sitting as I didn't want to list them. Why? I was thinking it was going to be this huge job of measuring each one and meticulously going over them for stains and holes. I could see without much work that some had stains. Finally I did my research and ended up listing them as a lot of mixed sizes as is with some stains and holes. I still got 45 dollars plus shipping for 9 tablecloths. If they are pristine you can get around 10 a piece for them. People buy them both to use and to repurpose in crafts. I love their bright colors and patterns. 

Finally yesterday I hit a church/school sale. I've got a method now where I go at the end of the day for the bag sale. At yesterday's I got some great items for 3 dollars a bag. This is my new favorite source that I'll be looking for each weekend. Indoors. Cheap. Huge variety of things. I just have to be careful to leave those items behind that I know are only going to net a few bucks. It's hard! and I fail sometimes.  They had a whole table of religious items which I scooped up. I'm hoping there is something interesting in the bunch. 

My primary source is thrift stores but church sales are closing in. I hope they last all winter. What is your favorite source? Estate sales, rummage, thrift stores or church sales? Or other? 

My Ting and Motorola Photon Q Review

I originally heard about Ting a couple of years ago when I was looking at cell phones and plans. I went with a different provider at the time. Fast forward to present day. I was spending almost 90 dollars a month for my cell phone plan through ATT. I'm also paying for a land line. I'm one of those old school people who have a hard time getting rid of the land line. My cell phone was reaching the end of its life plus I was trying to cut some expenses. With Ting you pay according to what you use. Here are their rates. If you didn't use your phone at all you pay a flat $6 a month. I was paying way too much for the type of usage I had with ATT. I don't talk a lot on my phone. I don't text a lot. I don't use a huge amount of data for internet but I didn't want to NOT have it because I like the GPS feature and sometimes I will look something up for resale. Even that I don't use very much though because I like to be inconspicuous when I shop. So I was paying a lot for the least amount I could get. At the same time I was reading on Scavenger Life what Jay and Ryanne had to report on their recent experience with Ting. As phones go I have a difficult standard to meet. I want/need a real keyboard on my phone. Not all companies/plans offer a phone with this. I've tried phones without a keyboard. For a short time I had an iPhone. I just couldn't deal with it! I need a physical keyboard. The trend indicates that some day I will probably have to go without my keyboard. Sprint (which is what Ting uses) has a phone which I liked a Motorola Photon Q. I purchased it on ebay for $100. Knowing there was no contract I knew I could always sell the phone and go back to a more conventional plan if I didn't like it. Based on their maps of coverage I saw that I do not live in an area with optimal coverage. Ting uses Sprint satellites. But based on the price and the fact that Sprint offers a phone I was happy with (it has a keyboard) I decided it was worth a try. I've had my phone  for over a week. Porting my number and joining Ting was super easy. I've had no dropped calls which is what I was most afraid of. I love the phone. I'm very happy with Ting so far. I'm including my referral link in this post. If you decide to try Ting and use my referral link we each get $25. I used Jay and Ryannes link and I got $25 off of my first bill.

I haven't got my first Ting bill yet as it's just been a little over a week but I'm hoping to at least halve my cell phone bill. And did I say I love my new phone?

Ting referral link. 

My Best Sales This Week and My First Etsy Sale

Sales picked up this week. My sales were about double what I usually reach. Yeah! Below are my best.

Framed signed art print. Paid $3. Sold for $29.99 plus shipping. $3 of that sale went to a Mission Fish Charity.

Koala Salt and Pepper Shakers. Paid 50 cents. Sold for $29.99 plus shipping.

Serengeti Sunglasses. Paid $1.99. Sold for $65 plus shipping. 

And I was kind of excited this morning to get my first Etsy sale. This vintage little girl lamp.  Paid under $5. Sold for $39.99 plus shipping. Isn't she cute? 

So now I've had one sale each at Bonanza and etsy in about 6 weeks. Obviously not going to replace an ebay income but it's something. I've got less than 15 items on etsy and 900 on Bonanza. All are from my ebay inventory. No original items. I'll keep listing in both places. It doesn't take much time or money. How have your Bonanza and etsy sales been?

BOLO and a Tip

I have some vintage tablecloths I'm researching and while doing so I learned that the Wilendur brand of vintage tablecloths can be very lucrative. See completeds. I love the vintage tablecloths that have the colorful designs like cherries or florals. I've been picking them up one by one when I see them cheap to sell in a lot. See completeds for lot of vintage tablecloths. You can make a lot of money off them.

My tip is something I learned by accident this past week. Here it is. Sometimes I will list a particularly nice item in two categories IF the categories are both relevant, thinking that I'm increasing the number of people who will see the item. Well last week I learned that this can be a bad idea and work against you. I had a pair of Vintage Serengeti Drivers Sunglasses. I listed them in Mens Accessories and also in Vintage Accessories, at a good price with best offer.

I had them listed for a couple of months with no offers. One day I was looking to see where my listing was placed in among the other listings and couldn't find it! I looked and looked. Mens..Accessories...Sunglasses...Used...It wasn't there. When I searched in Mens Accessories Sunglasses Used there was only one page of listings coming up so I just couldn't understand why my listing wasn't showing up. Finally a few hours later in the day it dawned on me. Because I had also listed them in the Vintage Accessories category they were NOT showing up in the USED mens accessories. Why? Because they were in the Not Specified categary of mens accessories. What? you ask? Because 'vintage' does not have a Used/New catgegory and that was what the search defaulted to. I don't kjnow if it was because I picked that category first or if it always defaults there but that was why. I ended the listing, removed the Vintage category and relisted them just as used in the mens accessories where most of the other vintage Serengeti sunglasses were listed.  A couple of days later I had a sale.  Be careful when you list in multiple categories. One may influence the other in ways you're not aware of. I know this is kind of convoluted. I hope it makes sense!

BOLO Flocked Animals

I have a soft spot in my heart for flocked animal figures. Probably because they were popular when I was a kid. As a kid though I didn't think they were anything special. A cheap souvenir to pick up on vacation. As I grew older though nostalgia kicked in. This past weekend I picked up a flocked doe at a bag sale (pictured below). Is he not the cutest? Mostly I picked it for myself as it doesn't look to be worth much but I researched it anyway 'cause you NEVER KNOW.  Look at some that are in recent completeds. I'll definitely BOLO this Kunstlerschutz brand. So I always pick flocked animals up if they are cheap and I have sold a few pieces but never found any worth a lot. I may start saving them instead of selling them....maybe the doe is the start of something :)

Do you remember flocked animals? Maybe a flocked easter bunny in your easter basket, a flocked deer that decorated your home during the holidays or maybe a flocked bobble head on the dash of your parents car?



In the spirit of Halloween I'm looking for scary movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime. What are a couple of your favorite scary movies old and newer? Some of mine…Tonight I'm trying out The Awakening on Netflix streaming.

The Omen
The Exorcist
Poltergeist
The Blair Witch Project
Let the Right One In
The Birds
Carrie (I thought the new Carrie was pretty good too)
The Paranormal Movies

My Best Sales This Week

Sales have been picking up this past week after a very slow week the week before.  How are your sales this week?

Bailey's Irish Cream Cookie Jar. Paid $4. Sold for $54.99 plus shipping. This cookie jar even had some chips on the edge of the lid.

Vintage Pendleton Plaid Skirt. Paid $3. Sold for $39.99 plus shipping. Perfect for Christmas.

Double H Cowboy Boots. Paid $5. Sold for $40 best offer. Plus shipping.

My Search for Religion

Lorraine at Clamco has written some very interesting posts lately about interesting items she's found. If you haven't yet read the series you should hop on over there. I was excited after reading the posts to add some of the items to my BOLO list and get out hunting. At my third thrift I finally found a vintage religious object. A holy water font. I remember as a kid having one of these in our hallway and then later I had one in my bedroom. Ours weren't this fancy. It cost 1.99 and I've got it listed for 29.99. I priced it at the high end of similar items but it is pretty cool. Thanks Lorraine for writing about your interesting religious finds. If anyone know which angel this is please let me know. I wonder if it would be a guardian angel. Completed Religious Objects. One thing about looking for vintage metal objects is there are so many 'fake antiques' out there from stores like Hobby Lobby, Pier 1 and other stores of their nature. Sometimes I'm not sure. I guess if it says made in China that's a good clue :) My holy water font has some good ole grime and oxidation on it so I'm sure it's true vintage. Are you ever fooled by faux vintage?