Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I belong to the following two just to participate in the morning pinterest parties. If anyone knows of others who do early morning Pinterest parties, please share.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/909662352497624/?fref=nf
https://www.facebook.com/groups/internationalleagueofthrifters/
You have to ask to join and it’s free. There are some friendly and shared experience posts, plus newbs asking for help. I just do the parties and get my coupon reminder, though sometimes I choose what I’m going to list based on their goal for the week post for inspiration. I think it would be helpful for fulltimers feeling a bit isolated.
I’ve got some annoying industrial strength sticker adhesive to remove from vintage melmac / melanmine / plastic. I’ve tried magic eraser and other basic methods. Is there a product that safe for plastic?
I also bought some vintage Studio Nova flatware with white plastic handles but some have yellowed. Has anyone successfully whitened with a product? Thanks!
I sold some Dark Dansk flatware with dark colored plastic handles having white dishwasher marks. My dad revived with steel wool. They sold very well.
I haven’t popped on the Smuggler’s Cove yet. My cheap self says I don’t need it, but then that’s what I said about Tiki Modern. I think I even passed it over when all of our Borders stores went out of business. Doh! Having kids is very distracting to one’s tiki fascination but I looking forward to patronizing the bar. Love your store branding so I’m sure it will be well done! I actually finally found a tiki mug last week before everyone else, but unfortunately it was only worth about $15-20.
I like to sell overlooked vintage cookie cutters and they are lightweight so ship first class. This was an oldie but a goodie. Paid a buck at a moving sale.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Wood-Springerle-Folk-Art-German-Biscuit-Cookie-Butter-Mold-Press-Birds-/232283245354?rd=1I wasn’t sure about pricing these tiny Vintage Easter decorations. Paid pennies at an estate and found them in a box with Gurley candles. I’ve heard some people say they go to the basements first looking for holiday stuff. We don’t have many in Cali but this was in a guest room closet up high. Sold in 5 minutes. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/332175705309?rd=1
Took a best offer of $50. I’m not into this kind of thing so priced to move. Paid $4 @ Indy thrift. I wish they wouldn’t put packing tape on paper boxes. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hubley-Kit-Gabriel-Model-1930s-SJ-Duesenberg-Town-Car-Metal-4868-/232271070829?rd=1
Got most of our money back on these items used on our recent vacation. Love to recycle and sold quickly so maybe I could have gotten all of our $ back? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Disney-Tiki-Aulani-Travel-Mug-Refillable-Hot-Cold-Beverage-amp-Oaui-Revealed-Guide-/232283763498?rd=1
I would love to know specifically how Cassini treats stale items of different ages and whether or not this has changed in the last couple of years and how they plan to change it in the future. Along these lines I would like to know if items flagged with the yellow banner (no sales in 18 months) or identified as items shown in the growth tab as underperforming (with or without suggested change recommendations) get different search treatment. On the latter, I’ve noticed it doesn’t make sense which items have recommended changes and often it’s just free shipping that is recommended even if my item is priced lower than the average or last sale. So, that doesn’t seem very helpful if I don’t like to give free shipping.
Hey Paul. If you open a tiki bar, I’m coming down there. In the meantime I know of a couple of books you might be interested in for ideas.
I’ve been casually looking at thrifts for a copy of the Tiki Modern book since I was too cheap to pay the $45 price new a few years ago.Thanks Linda. My thrifty self says just to go buy the pots at Costco or Ross, but for the front I’m excited about the talavera if I can sell enough to pay for that. In the back I have several from Craigslist and Costco. Most of the potted plants, especially orchids are from estate sales. It’s one of my favorite things to pick up and cymbidiums grow like weeds here. Well I’m quite the chatterbox this week. More importantly, I’ve been nibbling a wee bit, but I’ve really flipped my equation = from 95% sourcing / 5% listing to 5% sourcing or less. It will be a long haul at my rate, but I see some room starting to open up.
* Total Items in Store: 311
* Items Sold: 13
* Cost of Items Sold: $17 used + 45 RA Clearance items
* Total Sales: $310
* Highest Price Sold: $79 (Two new Anthropologie plates – paid $15 on sale over a year ago and reduced prices)
* Average Price Sold: $24
* Returns: 0;
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $10
* Number of items listed this week: +/- 10A good week for me. COGS is down because I’ve got more used items listed now, and average price is down but still pretty good. I got that nice few days listing during a portion of spring break while my family was away. Sold a bulky afghan today and I’m thrilled to get that out of the garage. I also ran a 25% off sale this week, a bit deeper than I normally like to but I want to move product and tend to price high, so it’s a less painful way to increase volume knowing my tendency.
I went to pin an item for a theme Pinterest party and realized the GTC listing had dropped off ebay, so that’s unusual. My store subscription renewed and it occurred to me that I haven’t received any offers from ebay in a long, long time and they did not give me a break on my subscription even though I’m top rated plus / sometimes Powerseller. I used to get offers all the time and got a discount on my store subscription last year.
I’m not a big goal person and I’m a thinker but also busy with much responsibility. Most of my Ebay money during this learning period is going to inventory, after school care for my daughter and clothes and other practical items for my kids who are in preteen / early adolescent growth spurt period. Then there is summer camps – very expensive but I need to work. So, this is kind of boring practical stuff. I do have a short term goal of buying two very large talavera pots for my front entry.
Even if I didn’t have kids, investing in real estate here is out of reach completely. Basic houses are $1M. I expect in the future that I will be more efficient and I’m lucky to be in an amazing sourcing location with many older people and very wealthy people. I’m sure I will be doing this in my retirement from my day job. The day job is really flexible and allows me to be completely available to my kids and turn out quality work without a great deal of direct responsibility. I mainly work with a very kind and talented senior attorney – that’s right, one exists. I’ve been doing this for years though, I don’t really watch tv, so learning Ebay has been very stimulating. I also love to bargain hunt and find super interesting retro items. This all keeps me going. My family of cheapskates all think it’s awesome that my hobby can also make extra $ since it’s so expensive to live here. I gave my friend some folk art pottery for her birthday I sourced for $4. Lots of perks to this, but I just only have so much time to list and unfortunately it’s not always consistently.
Some recent bread and buttah vintage sales. Mostly my new items move out.
Paid $3.99 at Goodwill. Yeah! for this artist who has a clearly legible signature. Went to the UK via GSP. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clemintina-Van-Der-Walt-Ceramic-Studio-Art-Plate-Platter-Colorful-South-Africa-/332156532938?rd=1This cross stitch kit sold one minute after posting. Designer is Ursula Michael. I paid $6 because the old ladies who price at the Indy thrift like sewing stuff. Usually I pay $1-3 for kits and they are so easy to list and ship.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Counted-Cross-Stitch-Kit-Ursula-Michael-With-Faith-All-Things-Possible-Religous-/332165520752?rd=1These took over a year to sell I think. This is the kind of item I think might do better on Etsy. Paid $3 at a flea market.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Children-039-s-Book-Set-1960s-Retro-Nursery-Books-Decor-Aesops-Fables-/231963480249?rd=1Wow, yeah. That’s so interesting and bold. Definitely a mismatch with the frame, but maybe your skills include framing? Paying for custom framing is so painful.
Just wanted to say I like your YouTube style. Not too chatty, proper grammar, and practical information. I also love it when experienced sellers discuss how items are selling better or not as well as they used to, mention the time something took to sell, and the degree of packing difficulty. There are few Youtubers who I still watch but I’ve subscribed. TFS!
Beth, this is my thinking exactly. I’m on the fence about signing up because I always ship the following morning and usually take my item directly to the post office bin on my way to work. However, there are occasions where I didn’t get a timely scan or I want to leave it in the mailbox. I might sign up for first class weight items to test it out and see if I notice an uptick in sales. I’m on the coast and often ship across the country. When I print priority mail labels it often says “3 day” right on there after it prints.
Thanks! Went through a box of art this weekend. Over half was easy to reasearch or just regional amateur art. Do have a couple of pieces though that I’m not even sure what medium they are in. If you ladies get tired of helping, let me know! Here’s a few links in case you are not.
This is on linen paper. Can’t tell what kind of medium. Looks layered. Tough to read signature on last name.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/343399540323813323/
Above is either a woodcut, lithograph, or giclee – have no idea how to tell even after reviewing the great website on this artist.Next two photos are same piece.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/343399540323815318/
Can’t read this signature, ’88
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/343399540323815304/
What is this kind of red pottery called? Origin guess?Thanks!
Total Items in Store: 345
Items Sold: 9
Cost of Items Sold: $16 thrifted + $149 RA
Total Sales: $402
Highest Price Sold: $127 (New Duvet – paid $55 on clearance 1 year ago)
Average Price Sold: $45
International Sales: 1
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $28
Items listed this week: +/- 28! (ended some stale ones too)Pretty good week for me. Kids are out of town for Spring Break and should have hit my taxes, but I just had a lovely weekend of quiet listing vintage piles and reorganizing. My fellow parent sellers know how golden that is. No grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, dr. appointments, etc. Just me and the pets and the piles. Feels really great except I’m wondering now if I’m a slow lister :(. This has me questioning whether I have the time for Etsy this year.
I’m one of the coffee mug rehab people. I felt nervous at first about shipping so I started with coffee mugs so I could get the hang of things in a controlled way. Have about 5 bankers boxes of them in the garage. However, after listing puzzling original art and pottery this weekend, those easy to list mugs sound pretty darn good. Hats off to R&J for pouring over tons of ephemera and other piles of unique items. I find myself kind of grateful for the piles so I can switch between types of items (they are largely sorted). Still focusing mainly on getting rid of larger items.
I did treat myself to two thrift store stops this week despite the challenge since I got off work early on Friday. All I purchased was a gorgeous midcentury walnut salad set and a midcentury pitcher. Paid up a bit for them but that is the plan of evolution going forward. It’s about picking the items that glow but also about leaving behind the ones that aren’t worth shipping and the time processing. Lately I’m factoring in the higher shipping costs too now that I understand that better.
