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Thanks for the link on the priority boxes! Nice to see eBay and USPS working together! I’ll have to get a few of those soon!
This is the third house we’ve had built and we do more each time. We just hired a drywall crew, but we did the exterior staining (log home), are in the process of hanging the tongue and groove, will paint/clear coat the interior, lay the tile and the wood flooring, finish the flooring, hang the interior doors, and do the finishing trim. So I know how overwhelmed the construction process can make you feel! I have progress photos on my Instagram account
The local United Way actually holds an event called Trash to Treasure every June where they take in donations from the students at the end of the Spring semester and then have a HUGE bag sale. Not quite dumpster diving prices, but I’ve turned my $20 bag into well over $200 from this summer….and I got there late and had the 7 year old in tow! I’ll probably tour the curbs/dumpsters this year since I didn’t think about doing it last year.
I told my husband that the house will be furnished with scavenged finds. My parents are even in on the process and brought a King size log bed out from Colorado that they picked up at a thrift in their area.
My store this week:
Total Items in Store: 180
Items Sold: 4
International 0
Total Sales $246.97
Highest Price $159.99 Vintage Hanover Shell Cordovan Dress Shoes
Average Price Sold: $61.74 ($29 without shoes)
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $13.56
Cost of items purchased this week $25
New items listed: 10This was a big week for me, fueled by the sale of the shoes. I had sold them the week before but never got paid. Relisted them at a higher price the second time and still sold them in an hour. I’m sort of kicking myself because the person who bought them sells high end shoes for 2x the sales price. Chalking it up as a learning experience and I can’t be too unhappy because after fees and COG I’m still looking at $125 profit. This week was better than my whole October numbers. I made $230 in sales, sold 9 items, and only listed 12 items. I’m trying to get listings up when I can, but my time is needed on other projects at the moment.
No customer issues, but did get a request to model a pair of shoes today. Um, no. Thanks to the tools listed here I saw that they only buy baseball cards so I blocked them.
Jay,
Do you know if the metal building could be “upgraded” and be conditioned later? I think the pros and cons come with your long term outlook. I think for eventual property resale, you will be able to recoup the cost of the metal building more than the stick frame building since the utility of the space will be similar since there was no plumbing roughed in before the concrete pad went down. If you had plumbing, a stick frame structure could be marketed as a living space. If you can eventually look at having the metal structure insulated and temperature controlled, that would be the way I think I would lean based on what you said your current use and needs are.
That being said, the thing I would worry about with the metal building would be animals and insects. If birds are able to get in, your inventory could be ruined very quickly. We have a metal pole barn and while it keeps the rain out, birds, bugs, and ground hogs often make it home as well.
~Jen
I have used photobucket in the past.
Let me see if instagram photos show up:
I do a lot of auctions. Seems like my area has auctions and not estate sales. They can be hit or miss on box lots and overall price. I’ve been more inclined to do the online auctions a local auctioneer does since they typically have a 2 hour preview the day the items start to close. The bidding can start 2 weeks in advance so I have plenty of time to research eBay sales history on items I am interested in. This method of auction takes less time and I know how high to go from the start.
I have also started to hit up the Goodwill on $0.49 cent clothing days just to load up on easy to list shirts. The other regional Thrift has had some really good items and I’m not afraid to pay more for things I know will be higher sale prices, but for the most part, they don’t price much over $10.
I also live near a State University and they have a surplus shop. There is also an event put on by the local United Way called Trash to Treasure where they take in donations from the 40,000+ undergraduates and sell it all by the bag or larger items for $3.
I don’t do too many yard sales, but I have had some good finds at the ones I do get to. Church sales are great.
All in all, I aim for a 10x return on what I spend for an item…..of course, if I can get more I’m happy!
I’ve been considering the ones Sue linked to. We will be moving into our new home in a few months and I’m building my storage shelves so I can make whatever fit, but I’m looking at 8′ high shelves and getting big tubs down for me is difficult. I currently have a mix of tubs that I pick up at auctions for a few dollars each, but they are not all similar in size which can cause issues in shelf heights.
