Saturday ramblings....

Working at a full time job plus selling online leaves me so little time for blogging and catching up on everyone else's posts, but I'm doing the best I can. This was a very busy week, both at work and with sales. I had four sales last weekend and one every day this past week, except Friday. How awesome is that?

A tangled web....of hair!

My quickest sale this week was an American girl doll that I got at an estate sale last Saturday. She was 50% off, so I got her for just $20, but she needed a little TLC. Her name is Josefina. 

This is what she looked like when I took her home.

After a couple of hours, I got her hair under control.

The doll was in really great shape except for a small mark on the tip of her nose. After researching comps, I listed her for $59.95 plus shipping. She sold in a day to a buyer in CA who paid a lot for shipping making his cost around $75. I was actually going to list her for $75, free shipping, so that worked out okay I think. I made around $32 on the sale after fees.

Give em an inch...

Speaking of free shipping, here is an example of why I prefer to offer it on most of my listings. I had this lot of My Little Pony unicorns up for auction with a starting price of $9.95 plus shipping via USPS medium flat rate box. I had a BIN price of $24.95. A couple of hours after I listed the lot, this message thread took place with a prospective pain is the butt buyer.

(as it was written):

Her: I was wondering if you are able to ship using standard shipping instead of expedite shipping to cut down of shipping fees? and if you, do what would be for standard shipping? 

Me: Thank you for your interest in my listing. A 3 lb package going from my location to yours in CA would cost $12.54 via Parcel Select. You would only save 11 cents as opposed to the flat Priority rate of $12.65 which also includes insurance. If you paid straight Priority, it would cost $13.10. Flat rate is really the best option.

Her: thank you for replying. If I choose your buy it now option, is there anything you can do to work with me on the shipping fee? That will be very much appreciated.

Me: I reduced the shipping cost to $9.00.
(Now my actual cost is $10.65, so I know I'm already taking a loss here, but I was figuring I could make this a quick sale, so I caved.)

Her: thank you! Will it be too much to ask if you can bring it to $8.00 and will buy it now.

(UH, YES!!!!)

Me: $9.00 is the lowest shipping rate to CA I can offer at this time.

Her: thank you for replying and your consideration.I will go ahead and buy it now with the $9.00 shipping. Will you send me an invoice for it?

Well, I didn't send her an invoice because all my BINs are immediate payment. She bought the stupid MLPs and the sale was done. I was going to list them fixed price for $34.95. It would have come out the same without all that trouble, but I thought I would try an auction to see if they'd sell for more. These buyers are amazing.

What is a Canoe Muffin anyway?

I also finally sold my Canoe Muffin flatware! You may recall that I had this set listed for $125 f/s, on Etsy and after I got back from my NY road trip, I dropped the price to $95. I got a convo offering me $75. Shipping was going to cost $14 to that buyer's location, so I countered and lowered the price to $80. She wouldn't bite for that extra $5. I left the listing at $80 and the set finally sold to someone else. The buyer left me a 5 star review, so that was awesome!

Almost a muffin.

I'm on breakfast detail at work, so I make breakfast for about 150 kids each day. The other day I had to make cinnamon rolls. The come already made, but frozen. They need to rise a bit before baking so we put them in a warmer for about an hour. Then they get baked for about 10 minutes and I whipped up the icing and drizzled it on all of them. They're our most popular breakfast item as you can imagine. 

I was nervous about making them, but I think they came out pretty good for my first time.


Yesterday the kids had a half day of school, so the lunch schedule was different. The classes came in one right after another. It was insane, but we managed to pull it off. Hubby came in as a volunteer to help serve, otherwise we would have been short handed because one of our lunch ladies was out. Like I said, it was a busy week. Next week will be busy too. I'm hosting a blog meeting at my house Tuesday night. Hubby has been busy doing some home improvements...painting and finishing up some baseboard work. This weekend will be spent cleaning. So no rest for me! Have a great weekend!

Wednesday odds and ends.

Finds and sales.

I've been having sales and that makes me happy. I was worried about what would happen when I gave up my ebay store, but I'm actually doing better now than I was before. Etsy sales are slow but steady with one or two each week. The main thing now is that I'm picky, picky, picky when it comes to buying items for resale. I'm on a very limited income, so my budget for buying is pretty small. I have to make every dollar count.

I found these vintage round bottom orange bottles at an estate sale. There was another box, but someone else snatched them up before me otherwise I would have bought both of them. They're made in Japan and they came with their original box. I paid only $3 for the set. I was going to list them for $50 on Etsy, but I put them up at $30 f/s instead. (Dope!) They sold in two days to a buyer in California. They were delivered today and fingers are crossed that they arrived intact. 

Remember the Old Homestead flatware I almost threw away? Well, the lot sold for $40 f/s about a week after I listed it to a buyer in Washington state. I was lucky enough to fit these into a padded flat rate mailer. The buyer left me positive feedback. Yay! The Canoe Muffin flatware has not sold yet, nor is it getting much attention on Etsy. I'm afraid that the popularity of that pattern may have passed, but I'll be patient. If nothing happens, I'll move it over to ebay.

I found these fondue forks in a kitchen drawer at the same estate sale as the orange bottles. They are also made in Japan. It was the second day of the sale. I brought them over to the cashier and asked, "How much?" The guy asked me, "How much do you want to pay for them?" I said "$3." He said, "How about $2." Okay! These are similar to the Canoe Muffin set except that the handles are square and not round. I put them up on Etsy and someone included them in a treasury. Cool!

I went through the clothes at the estate sale and found this NHL hockey jersey in with the men's things. I remember reading that you should always look out for sports jerseys. Mind you I had no idea what team logo it was when I bought it. A few mouse clicks and I discovered it was the Phoenix Coyotes logo. Not only that, but it's their original logo from the 1990's. Back in February they had a retro night where the team all wore jerseys with this old logo. This shirt is in like new condition. I listed it high for $59.95 f/s. No action  yet, but hey, it's summer. Paid $2.50.




Finally, the big sale of the week and I'm hoping it's not cursed. I had this lot of LPS figures listed at auction last week starting at $24.95 with a BIN of $69.95. No bids. I checked the listing and noticed that my flat rate shipping was not showing up. When I clicked shipping details, it told me to put in my zip code, so I did and it told me it was invalid. What?? I went into the SYI form to check the listing and everything was right. I hit continue, but it gave me an error message, something about the quantity was wrong, but there was nowhere to fix it. It was the strangest thing.

At the final hour, I got an email from a wannabe buyer that said she was unable to place a bid. She got a message that said it was already purchased. She was confused because the auction was still live. Well, I was confused too because nobody had purchased it. Clearly there was a glitch in the listing. I had 13 watchers and almost 300 views and I ended the listing one hour before it ended. I was upset, but I didn't want to take any chances. I waited a couple of days, re-did the entire listing at fixed price with a BIN or B/O at $69.95 f/s. It sold in a couple of hours. I've decided for sure now that really HATE auctions. The possible bad part of this sale is that it sold to a newbie buyer with a 6 feedback. I checked her fb left for others and there's just one. It says "This seller honors Money Back Guarantee and was very prompt!" Okay so I'm nervous, but hoping for the best. I put in some extra freebies in the package for good measure.

Recovery

Megan and I have fully recovered from our wisdom tooth removal surgery. We just have the annoying stitches to contend with. They're supposed to be dis-solvable, but it's probably going to take a while.

I didn't know my face could rain.

Hubby and I worked on more landscaping this morning. We got an early start at 7 am  It was a mere 76 degrees this morning with 1000% humidity. Yes, that's one thousand percent! I started digging and my face started raining. No lie! We finished the side of the house along the driveway. Here's what it looked like when we bought the house last November.

And here's what it looks like now:

Did you just say "Wow?" Because I did when I put these two photos together.

Taking those big old shrubs out was a job and a half. 

Getting the stumps out was not easy either.

Before

After

I finally got my palm tree!

We were done at 9:30 and we were just soaked. I weighed myself before taking a shower and I was two pounds lighter than I was at 6 am when I showered the first time. It's going to be in the 90s all week. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

Steampunk Sunday and some good finds.

Aether: The Rise of Specter, proof of concept film has been released. It's a little over 8 minutes long and it gives you an idea (maybe?) of what the director was/is hoping to achieve. You can see the video HERE. Megan can be seen walking down the steps at 1:36 (green coat), followed by Chris at 1:40 (carrying suitcase), and Chris can be seen again drinking a glass of wine at 3:40. If you make it past that point I will be impressed. Although we are hoping that the film gets picked up, that possibly there may be more work for Chris (maybe prop-wise?) and/or as an extra, we're not sure the concept is clear enough for the general public to grasp. Chris has been trying to promote it at his booth during conventions, but there's not that much interest. These scenes were all filmed locally near Mobile at Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island.

In other news, I've been finding some good stuff lately at yard sales. I rarely have to venture out of my development these days as there's always a bunch of sales within a 5 mile radius of where I live which is nice.

We went to an estate sale on Friday and I scored these size 15, brand new Dingo ankle boots for $5. The cashier asked me if I actually knew anybody who was a size 15. I said "no" and didn't elaborate. I was hoping they were worth $125, but sadly they are not. Still, I think I can sell them for a nice profit.




Yesterday, just down the street from where I live, I got a box of flatware for $5. I spied what I thought was Danish modern flatware in the box. It was marked "Ekco" and "Eterna" and "Japan." I got home to the computer and after a few mouse clicks I found out that this pattern is called "Canoe Muffin" (which is the strangest name I've ever heard of), but apparently it was quite collectible a few years ago and, if I'm lucky, I'll fetch a tidy sum for my lot. Let's hope.

Also in the box was some flatware that I almost threw out because it felt cheap. After some research I found out it's called Old Homestead and it's worth a few bucks, so I listed it.

Another little find mixed in was this little spoon. It's made in Germany and has the Lufthansa logo on the handle. It's always fun to find a little extra treasure in a box of mixed up stuff.

At another sale, I bought a bag of Littlest Pet Shop animals for just $5. I listed these at auction yesterday and have 6 watchers already. Do you know that there's a rare little brown dachshund LPS figure that sells for $300? Apparently there are fakes being made, so beware. I didn't seem to have any super rare pets in this lot, so I listed them all together. Hopefully the bids will add up to a nice sale.

Last week at a thrift store, I paid $5 for this Klafrestrom Swedish enameled cast iron dish. It weighs 5 freakin pounds! Who would want to cook with something this heavy? I listed it on Etsy but something tells me this may be a hard sell.

I also scored this big vintage picnic basket for just one dollar. I washed it and sprayed it down with bug spray before bringing it in the house. I'm keeping it because it will be great for storage.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I'm trying to declutter my home, my mind and my life. For me to keep something I've bought at a yard sale is a big decision these days. Sometimes I'll hang on to it for a while until I'm over the excitement of having it and then I'll sell it. I continue to edit my possessions on a daily basis. The less I have around, the better I feel, the easier it is to clean and maintain my home and the less I have to worry about losing in a hurricane or decide who to leave it all to when I pass on. Seriously, my daughter doesn't want any of my crap. I really don't miss any possessions I've parted with, except maybe all the garden tools we sold back in PA. 

There is a lot written about decluttering, organizing, minimalism and all that related kind of stuff. I found an article online that goes against that grain. It's called, Let's Celebrate the Art of Clutter and you can read it HERE. It's kind of funny and I totally understand where the writer is coming from, but I think more and more people are going the other way. Really, you can't take it with you when you go and whether she likes it or not, her kids are going to sell her crap and take the money instead.

Relax and have a simple Sunday.
:-)

Back in the (Ebay) saddle

After preparing and having the garage sale one weekend, followed by the Market on the Pond this past weekend, I was too busy for Ebay, so I took the week off from listing. Yesterday was like a new start and I got busy. I ventured into new territory, dipping my toe in the water so to speak. I came across these forks in a box full of junk at a flea market. They were black, but felt substantial and of better quality. I saw that they said silverplate and the lady only wanted 2 bucks, so I got them. "Let's have some fun, shall we?" I thought.

I read online that you can remove tarnish by bathing silver items in a mixture of salt baking soda and hot water that's poured into a glass pan lined with with aluminum foil. It worked to a point. After 3 baths, I used the silver polish and the tarnish just kept coming off. Finally I quit and just listed them. A few of them have plate wear, but I'm selling them cheap just to see what happens. It's a learning experience.

Here's how they looked when I was done. The back of them says Belfry silverplate. Hey, they're old, metal and they fit in the palm of my hand. All my favorite criteria. I also got this Wm Rogers spoon.
There's a few listed on Ebay, but my listing has better pictures and a lower starting price, so hopefully mine will sell.

It has a nice shape. I got it for 50 cents.

I'm always on the lookout for religious medals and I got a couple for a buck the other day. One of them was a medal I had never seen and I couldn't find anything like it on Ebay, so I listed it by itself. I got a bid of $9.99 right away. It's St Moroun. Ever heard of him? The church of Maronites? Me either. On the back of the medal is a tree that is the Cedar of Lebanon. This medal is smaller than a dime. I can't wait to see what it sells for. 3 watchers so far.

Here's another religious item. It's a pocket shrine icon. These pieces usually are kept inside a metal container, like a two piece tube. Soldiers carried them with them during the war. This one is a little bigger and it's Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It's marked Italy on the back. I listed it yesterday and it has a $9.99 bid already.

One of our favorite indoor flea market vendors moved her booth to a

different area, so everything got changed around and new things seemed to appear, like the spoon and this lamp finial. This one is made of green ceramic and brass. I listed it yesterday and it already has 3 watchers. I love stuff like this. 

And lastly, I decided to list 45 out of the 63 Star Trek books that we bought at an estate sale for $3.00. I got a starting bid of $19.99. It's a 15 pound box so I listed it with calculated shipping at the media mail rate and offered priority as a second choice if the buyer is crazy enough to pay it.

Things are looking up a little. I like when I see some action in my listings....views, watchers and bids! It's just like I remembered! How about that?