Sales update

Happy Holidays! 

Thank you to everyone that has been watching my YouTube videos, it's been fun to make them and share more of my life with you guys. I still want to update the blog a couple times a week, so don't worry this place isn't going anywhere. Here's a link to my newest video if you want to check it out-

http://youtu.be/c7TnXlDkjPQ

Let's talk numbers:

As you can see sales slumped off the last couple days, that's to be expected as people travel and spend time with loved ones. Don't stop working though, people start shopping as soon as they see that they didn't get what they wanted under the tree. I'm still right at that 6K for 30 day mark, my goal is to keep that there. 

Here's everything I've sold since the 20th, I thought you might want to check out what's been moving

Lots of those little bread and butter sales, it's what keeps me afloat during the slower times. I sold two swimsuits to the same person this morning, she lives only a couple towns away and I know the weather is horrible so I like to think she got a tropical vacation for Christmas! Get those swimsuits up guys, people are going to be leaving town and you can't buy them in stores. 

I wanted to talk about this sale, it was missing pieces and I made sure to note that on 3 places within the listing. The buyer messaged me today disappointed and angry that the puzzle was incomplete. I explained that I was sorry and did my best to describe it, but how could I fix this. The next message the buyer took blame and said they thought I meant I hadn't done the puzzle. Instead of getting mad I immediately refunded them, apologized and said keep the puzzle. I had noticed they didn't have any feedback and were new buyers, I want to keep them on our platform!! They seemed so amazed that I would do that, I got an immediate "thank you so much, next time I'll be sure to read the listings. Lesson learned" 

That is exactly the goal, help your buyers learn & instead of having their first experience on eBay be negative I made it positive. They will shop again on eBay and probably tell people. Customer service is everything! I lost a few dollars but that's nothing compared to what the community gained. 

Wrapping up here, I hope you guys have a great holiday. I know these two littles are thrilled to open the presents my eBay sales provided for them. 

eBay Spread Sheet

Good Morning!

A few people in the Facebook group wanted an easy spreadsheet to help keep track of their sales. I created this one, which is similar to exactly what I use, for you guys!

Google Sheets is easy to use, download the app on your phone to take it everywhere with you!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k3qbxGZ4SeUkH6oE_xOKIAmy1_ReSDD77aVh7gpPlac/edit?usp=sharing

Let me know if this is helpful and if you'd like more things like this! I also have a new YouTube video up so be sure to check out and subscribe to my channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TncR5YHH_nA

Have a great day everyone!!

My first YouTube video!

Here it is guys! Check it out and please let me know what you think.

Thanks!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ0q9rlCN2c

Customer Service is King

Hey Guys!

Today was a good day! I was up until 2:30 last night pushing myself to hit 500 items listed, I DID IT!!! 

I have been trying to get to this number for two weeks, always hitting about 490 and dropping. I woke up at 6:30AM, 3 hours of sleep later, and took my son for a pre school coffee date where I let him pick out 4 gift cards. We talked about how important it is to say thank you to the people who are kind to us and then we went to his school and gave them to the people who might not be seen every day. The janitor, the cross walk guard, his in class aid and the teacher next door to his class (he got to pick) it really lifted my spirits and kept me going today! 

I went home and while I was working on shipping I got a message from a buyer of a Patagonia shirt

He let me know I sent him the wrong shirt, same size and colors but it was a Columbia. Oops! Within 5 minutes I got the right shirt, printed a new shipping label and then emailed him back saying keep the Columbia your correct shirt is on the way and I'm so so sorry! 

Guess what he said?!

He owns an embroidery company, he sells at concerts in the south and will be coming back to buy more shirts from me. Possibly up to 20 at a time. 

What!!! Cool!! I jumped on this opportunity and said "I actually would love to work out a bulk deal with you, I can do $5 a shirt if you buy 15 or more. Just let me know what you're looking for and I'll keep my eyes open. He wrote back extremely excited and we've worked out a plan, I even learned about a few brands I didn't know before! Since I'm buying these items at around 50 cents a piece, reselling in bulk really makes sense. I'm crossing my fingers this works out, I'll keep you posted. 

Numbers:

Another milestone, 6K in 30 days. I've sold 225 items for $3,810 in December. 

This was my big seller today, it sold in less than 24 hours. Paid $2.99 at Goodwill. 

My husband actually grabbed this, $5 and it also sold in less than a day. 

I got this at the bins and it took a couple weeks to move but a great profit!

Just some bread and butter sales from the last couple days, can you see how branching out has really increased my average price. It's been such a positive thing. 

Here's everything I sourced yesterday for $60, I also sold the pie face game to a friend for $15 today doubling what I paid. 

I went to the bins today and found this single Dr Marten X Pendleton boot, I searched for the mate for a good 30 minutes and even took out my headphones to talk to people. No luck! Overall it was pretty slim pickings, the winner of the day was a couple wool coats, a Tokidoki lesportsac cross body purse and a hape marble run that I'll need to piece out. I stopped by the big goodwill on the way home and found a Walt Disney world scrapbook and Garnet Hill pajamas. Total spend was right around $75. 

I'm going to record my first YouTube video on Saturday, I'll post it Sunday and I hope you guys will watch! What should I cover? Any tips? Should I do a haul video or a sales video? Both? I'm nervous!!! 

I hope you guys had a great day, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know how I'm doing! Thanks again!! 

Thanks for the Love

Good Morning! 

I just want to say thank you so much for all the support, your comments and kind words really keep me motivated!! I'm just about to start shipping, 13 items were paid for or sold yesterday and I thought I'd make a quick post before hand.

Numbers- 

I did just over $200 yesterday and I'm really determined to hit that 6K for 30 day  mark!

Here's some of the bread and butter things I sold. FurReal friends are popular this year, the pug goes for $40 new and I picked it up for $5 at goodwill, it had the target salvaged sticker on it so I assumed it was new. I honestly knew it wouldn't be a big profit but I was crossing my fingers someone would buy it for a kid who wanted it but they couldn't afford the $40, it's a hot item. I make up silly stories in my head sometimes but whatever! 

The purple BCBG was returned yesterday and when I relisted it sold immediately for full price. That seems to happen with almost all my returns, anyone else see that same pattern?

I bought this on Monday for $5 and when I got home I noticed the top clasp was missing. I was going to return it but they sell for over $100 so I put it up for $50 and accepted a $45 offer a couple hours later. 

I knew this would be my winner from Monday's trip. I saw it sitting in the furniture section, the dept 56 caught my eye, and made a little "AHHHH" sound! It sold overnight for full asking price. I paid $9.99, now that's my kind of flip! 

I'm crossing my fingers for some thrifting time today but we had to pay a few big bills (my husbands at DEQ as I type) so there isn't a ton of wiggle room in my shopping budget. I'm thinking in the new year I need to open a business account and maybe change up my game plan. Right now I have a PayPal card that I use for thrifting. What do you guys use, do you have a separate bank account? Making this much money is great but I'm getting nervous about how to handle it, taxes are covered it's just the day to day stuff. 

Anyways I'm blabbing, good luck with your sales today!!! 

Branching out

Hey guys! eBay is still killing it, I've actually come down with a horrible head cold but I'm still trying to keep up with a minimum of 10 items listed a day. eBay isn't a hobby for me and we really depend on my sales. A lot of people mention that I find great things at my goodwill but my guess is that's only because I live in a very expensive neighborhood. I thought I'd talk a little about my life today, because as easy as it all looks on here sometimes it's hard! 

I have two beautiful babies, a 5 year old son & 2 year old daughter. My 5 year old just started kindergarten and has autism. A huge reason of why I had to quit my day job was because school has been a really had transition for him and I needed to be available 24/7. My husband works as an entry level manufacting engineer for Intel, it's great but it also means he is always working and his pay isn't the highest. 13 hour days up to 6 days a week. We rent a townhouse close to his work in a great school district but when we moved here over the summer our rent doubled, ouch. We have your typical American debit and I'm really trying to dig us out, I know we can do it! I believe in PMA, positive mental attitude, so even when I want to crawl in a hole and cry I try and keep my head held high. I know hard work and positivity will take me far. I do my best to give and teach my children to be humble and grateful, because even though we do stuggle I'm thankful for what we have! 

Anyways, on to the stuff you guys really care about :) numbers! I've sold 196 items for a total of $3,195 in December. 

I've been really working hard to branch out. 

I was at Goodwill about to leave and I saw a precious moments box on the shelf, I picked it up and it was just the buildings. I remembered seeing some people in a grab bag and thought they might go with it. As I turned the corner a cart came out with the box of people! Total spend was $11 and they sold in hours. I was sleeping and got 3 offers on them, then someone just bought them for the full price! 

I bought this guy for $4 and he sold the same day, shipping was $11 so I profited about $25 after fees.

These guys where actually from a shopkins board game I got for $2.99. It was more profitable to pull the figures out and toss the actually game plus shipping was way cheaper. Sometimes parting things out is the way to go.

I paid $10 & shipping was $6. After fees that's only about $17, this is why I only buy clothes at the bins. I don't like spending $10 on something without a larger return. 

My bread and butter is still bins clothing, It's these little things that add up fast! That Apex jacket sold yesterday to a customer who messaged me for measurements, I sent him the info and an offer to buy it for $20 (it's been sitting in my shop) he bought it and immediately left positive feedback! Customer service is so important in the industry!! 

I bought these things on the same trip as the precious moment purchase on Sunday night.

And here's most of my haul from last night, I spent $50 total! 

Today I'm going to try and stay home to list, tomorrow I should have time to squeeze in a bins trip. I hope you all have an amazing week, keep listing!! 

Did you miss me?

Hey guys!! I hope you all have been as busy as I have. eBay has been insane!! I have started branching out and my profit has been going up dramatically. Clothing is still my bread and butter but my biggest sales have been in the toy and Christmas department. Yesterday I had my best sale to date. Lets talk numbers!

I'm at $1818 for 7 days. 162 items sold in December for a total of $2,670. After fees, costs of goods and shipping my gross profit is $1788.

 

I've been going to a few Goodwills around my house and cleaning up on plush and little toys. 

I paid $2 for the pug, I originally bought it for a good friend because we both have pugs but the profit was to good to turn down. The Lady and the Tranp dog was $2.99 and sold in less than 12 hours. The Little Ensteins where $9 and also sold in less than a day. I also sold a separate single June doll that doesn't talk for $20 this week.

Seriously buy alllllll the Little Einsteins. I found the boat for .99 then found the figure in a grab bag for $1.99. 

Anything Mr. Christmas is always a good buy, I only know this because I looked for Mickeys Clock Shop for years but could never spend the $100 on eBay. I found one last week for $7! It's staying with me but I bought this marching band at the same location for $9 and sold it in 3 days. 

I was thinking I would get more for my $5 Mickey house but sadly the chimney was broken. $70 with shipping isn't bad, plus the person who bought it was a town away and it only cost me $8 with my discount to ship!! 

All clothing from the bins! I original sold the Anthro sweater for $37 and it was returned because it didn't fit. I relisted and it sold for $45 in a day. Yay!! 

NOW FOR MY BEST FLIP EVER.

Drumroll please! 

I bought this weird bag of random ornaments for $4 because I did pretty good with another one a couple weeks ago. I pulled out these wooden ones and actually hung them on my tree and giggled with my husband about just how silly they where. I looked up the initials on the back and immediately listed them...

Within an hour this happened

$4 into $180 (and counting, there was also vintage and hand cut crystal) 

They are already off to their new home in France. I boxed them up really well and slipped the box into a padded flat rate for $5.35 and sent it into GSP.

I'm currently sitting at 485 listings, I have the photos to get me to 500 tonight. I'll do my best to report back. 

Happy Holidays!!

-Nicole