Thursday, April 25, 2013

About me and an update


So far the consignment sale has been a WASTE of my time. However, this is partially my fault. I thought tagging and prepping my items would be a breeze. It wasn't, and Tuesday morning, as I was desperately trying to finish tagging (since I had to get the items in that afternoon) I stopped at 70 items. I know, I was a QUITTER! My kids were cranky, I was cranky and stressed, and I was sick of tagging. Oh and did I mention ironing? I ironed and starched everything. 70 items is a lot of stuff, but I prob had about 150 items I could have easily tagged. Next time (if there is a next time) I will not wait till the weekend before to Tag everything. Last night I checked the tagging system and at the presale I only sold 3 things. 3 things? I am 80% sure I wont be doing that again.

------Today I am hopping back on the eBay train. And I am happy to get back!

Since starting this blog, I have already acquired a handful of readers.. Which makes me so excited! I seriously thought NO ONE would read this blog, and it would be a little way to escape mom life, and get some stuff off my chest about selling. So needless to say, this has started off way better than expected. I am so flattered to have some of the people I blog stalked for a year comment on my posts!

Its only appropriate now to tell you a little about me, since there is really nothing about ME on the blog other than a tiny description of myself.


I am Ashley, a 25 year old girl that lives in California. (I am starting to feel like this already sounds cheesy)



A few years ago I started chit chatting with this handsome guy on Facebook. Ya you heard right... FACEBOOK! That is where is all began. We knew each other growing up (We both went to the same church) but never really kept in contact or even acted like we were friends....My husband likes to say its because I was "too cool" for him. He is probably right....

Anyways he was living in another state. We knew right away we were meant to be and he moved back to CA!

Shortly after, we sealed the deal. I have to brag for a second. I have the best hubby. We are opposites about alot of things.. But very similar too. He is my BEST friend, and I seriously cant enough of this guy. I was also lucky enough to marry into the BEST family. (Cant beat that!)

(Me pregnant with our daughter)

We have TWO beautiful kids. A 2 1/2 year old girl. And a 9 month old little guy. They are our pride and joy. You probably wont see too many pictures of them on here. We don't like posting their pics on the web. (call us old fashion I guess).

I supervised an after school program for elementary kids for 7 years, but quit when our little guy was born last year. (I miss that job, but love being a stay at home mom). I also have a photography business that I have had for about 5 years. I have put alot of it on hold with 2 small kids, but still do occasional shoots and weddings for people. My hubby has a great job as a financial advisor.

A few months ago we bought our very first home!! I never in a million years would think our first home would be a brand new home, built with everything we wanted! We are very blessed.

(My instagram picture when we closed escrow)

 This little guy came into our lives a few months ago. Winston the OES (Old english sheep dog).  Holy cow he is a handful, and not so little anymore since this pic! No one told me that puppies are so much WORK! We told our daughter that if she got rid of her binkie she could have a puppy... ya it worked. She got rid of the binkie... but I am not sure anymore if a puppy was worth it!

A few facts about me:
-I LOVE anything sweet. Mainly chocolate.
-I am obsessed with J.Crew
-I could eat sushi 5 days a week.
-I love the "rush" or "thrill" of finding a good deal or a fabulous item to flip on eBay. LOVE IT!
-I have 1 coke a day (pepsi YUCK!)
-I live for weekly costco trips.
-I started selling on ebay to support shopping habbits, help out with a few bills and to pay for our families  fun extra activities. (Like our Disneyland passes!! woohoo)
And now I am a brunette. 
And that is my life in a nutshell.

The end!


Monday, April 22, 2013

Yay! Powerseller!

 
Wait, WHAT?
 
I just found out that I am a Top Rated Seller, AND a PowerSeller!!
 
I seriously am NOT familiar with either of these... its not something I ever thought about trying to get on eBay. So if anyone wants to tell me the perks to this I would appreciate it.
From what I have heard, I get a shipping discount, and a discount on final value fees? And top results on "Best Match."? If all of that is true, I will be one happy lady!
 
 
.... And now back to tagging. I have to turn in all my stuff tomorrow morning it 9am! Its going to be a long night. (REALLY LONG).
 
 
 

Sunday, April 21, 2013

On the back burner!


Ebay has taken the back burner this week, (which explains my 1 SALE!). I have so many listings to do before my store opens in a WEEK!
One problem.
I totally forgot I signed up for a local kids consignment sale.
Just Between Friends. Anyone heard of it? I think its an West coast one.
Anyways. I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO STILL! Ive been ironing, and organizing. And now I have to tag everything tonight.

This is my first ever consignment sale. If anyone reading this that has experience with these sales, I would  greatly appreciate some tips.

On another note.....
I DID have some time to stop at a goodwill this weekend for some inventory. I realized that overpriced Goodwill isnt a place I should stop at anymore for items. I dont get it. Is this just the Goodwill in my area? First of all they mark with sharpie the price of the items in ridiculous spots. I saw a nice designer dress that had $11 dollars marked on the inside of the dress. ON the dress. WITH A SHARPIE! And dont worry it bled through and you could see $11 on the back of the dress. The other thing that bugs is that our Goodwill here has a deal with Target. They get all of Target's overstock, and clearance items that dont sell. Heres the annoying part...... You know those $1 dollar items that they have at target in the bins when you walk in? Dont worry, my Goodwill marks them up to about $5. Or even that clearanced clock from Target that was $10 bucks... Goodwill has it marked at $50.
Ugh. Im Over Goodwill.

Well enough complaining. Thats my rant for the week.
Wish me luck on the consignment sale!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Last Weeks Sales

Last weeks sales were nothing spectacular....I sold quite a few printers. If you havent seen my post below, I have well over 100 Canon printers sitting in my garage. I bought them from a local overstock auction that sells store returns and overstock from all over the country. I am so lucky to have one of these auction warehouses in my home town.
Anyways I think I sold 8 printers. Most of them sold for around $30 plus shipping. (A few best offers mixed in there) and I paid around $1 a printer. 
Also sold:



                                                               XL Caboodle Case- Paid: Free
                                                                Sold $20 plus shipping

 Mens Vans Paid: $1 Sold: $18.99 plus shipping.



I seriously need to step up my game. My goal is 100 listings May 1st. I have like 17 right now. THATS IT! This week I am going listing crazy.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Me on eBay Radio!

Have you listened to eBay Radio with Griff and Lee?

eBayradio.com

Yesterday I was on it! They "dished" one of my listings. A listing I CANNOT get to sell, even though I know its worth something!

To listen to me, sound dumb,  go here! (I am about half way through the segment)

They gave me a score of 4.9 out of 5. I still have some revisions to do to my listing, that they advised me to do. One suggestion is to have a return policy. I DON'T have one. I really don't want to hassle with it, or be used and abused by buyers. I'm considering it though for some listings. A few listeners of the show messaged me afterwards and advised me to change my return policy. We will see.


Here's the item they "dished." A Nielson illustrated bible from the 40's. I found one similar listing that sold for over $80. I haven't seen anything like it on eBay since. Its in its original box and in really good shape. I get tons of watchers on this thing... but nothing. Then I relist it after 30 days, and I get 2 watchers.... Then tons again, then none. Its so strange. I think I have re listed it 4 times so far. My husband picked it up at an estate sale for $1. It was a great find.

Here's to hoping this bad boy sells!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A Favorite Find of Mine

Since starting this blog, I have had a year of selling experience under my belt. Thinking back over the year I have had some great finds.
This being one of my favorites:
Have you seen anything like this? Its a Lundberg Studio Cased Glassed paperweight vase from 1988.

My mother in law was getting rid of it, and said I could try to sell it if it was worth anything. (She had it in a box for years.) It was given to her by HER mother in law. A lady who was known for some crazy gifts.

If I saw this at a yard sale I would prob skip over it. I mean.... glass items really are not my thing. So after I received it, I looked it up and found it to be worth around $300! I had it listed for $285 fixed price for awhile. I had tons and tons of watchers, and no bites.
Finally I decided to lower it to $225 and viola... it SOLD!

I would love to find another one of these someday!


Monday, April 8, 2013

The block sale of the year.... kind of

Where I live (California), Yard sales never go out of style. If its raining, they are out there. If its foggy and freezing, they are out there. If its 95 degrees at the crack of dawn, they are STILL out there. In the town I live in there is a large community of new homes. Its a beautiful area that's been around just a few years. Within this community, there are about 8 different sections of builders with their division of homes, an elementary school, a community park with a school, and beautiful trails. It is a desired place to live around here.
Yearly (since this community popped up 3 years ago) they have a block sale at the beginning of April. I am talking around 1000 homes that have the opportunity to participate in this YARD SALE OF THE YEAR.
Sounds wonderful for a eBayer like me right?
WRONG.
Here's the problem with this for an ebay seller:
1. New community. Most homes are younger couples (first time home buyers) with not too many items that could be a good flip.
2. Higher end homes. These families think their items are worth big bucks. "Oh you want $11 dollars for your white shirt with arm pit stains?"
3. New homes = purged homes. When people move they usually go through stuff before they move and get rid of junk, extra items. "Purging." Leaving not a whole lot at for a yard sale down the road.

So I was a little bummed out. It was fun though to hit up 25+ yard sales in a hour and I did find a shoe organizer for my closet, a brand new dress shirt for my husband (which is so hard to find anyways for a slim six foot five man). I also got a few clothes to resell at a local consignment sale next week.

All in all it was quite the experience.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

First Negative feedback..... UGHHH

It happened. MY BIGGEST NIGHTMARE!
--Negative feedback.

I try so hard to do everything I can to avoid this.

First of all... who talks like this.

Second.... The buyer NEVER contacted me.

So I went to check the tracking information.... DELI EVERED.

Ok. So now I am a little annoyed. So I go ahead and contact ebay. What do they say? "Feedback is just an opinion, theres nothing we can do to change it"
Pshhh... I rolled my eyes as I heard this. I know for a fact they can change the feedback. I have seen it done with other sellers blogs I follow.
The ebay customer service rep then went ahead and told me how to submit for a request to "revise feedback."

So I went ahead and submitted the form, as well as a letter to the buyer:
I just received your negative feedback. Here is the tracking number for the item you purchased: (Insert tracking number here)
You can track the item at http://www.fedex.com/Tracking
Once you track it you can see that the package was indeed delivered to (Insert address here) United States. Which is the address you have provided to have items shipped to.
You also gave negative feedback without even attempting to contact me. Now because I fulfilled my end of the purchase, (Shipped the item as described, and provided delivery confirmation), I am also sending you a feedback request form to ask that you please revise your feedback.
Thank you.

I waited a week. NO RESPONSE.
So I decided to go check other feedback this buyer is leaving for sellers and LOW AND BEHOLD he has left the SAME feedback to other sellers.
Wow. Scamming sellers to get free items.
So of course I contacted ebay. This time, ebay customer service was more than helpful, and they are investigating this to revise the feedback. (Its been a week already, and nothing so far).

So until then. The negative feedback sits.

I cant believe some would stoop so LOW!!!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Estate Sale


There wasn't too many weekend estate sales, and garage sales this past weekend with it being Easter weekend. We did manage to find one estate sale. I was so bummed to get there and see that everything was marked RIDICULOUSLY high. I hate when professionals come in and run an estate sale... They go overboard on prices.
I did find this little gem. A vintage case of small christmas vintage books. Isnt it cute?



Paid $4, I have it listed for $34.
Not too bad, but better than nothing.