My Time in the Black Hole

Apparently, I've been thrown in eBay's black hole for the last week and so far I haven't seen any signs of being released. For those of you who don't know what the black hole is, it's a unspecified period of time which your eBay store does not have views, new watchers or sales and you slowly begin to go insane with desperation for a sale until it consumes all your thoughts and you can't eat, sleep or function in the real world. For real, I looked it up in Websters. :)

Over on eBay Underground, we discuss being thrown in the black hole, digging ourselves out, experiencing fantastic sales and somehow being thrown back in again. Actually we discuss all kinds of topics. One of the best tips I've received was from an ebugger who suggested ending a "good till cancelled" BIN sale and "sell similar" to place yourself higher in eBay's magical search engine. Last week, I decided to end about six listings that were lingering for months and sell similar. Sold two of the items within the next three days.

Bought both of these little plush for $0.25 each a while back. While these are small ticket items, the markup is high enough that it ends of being a satisfying sale.

The black hole has made me desperate. I accepted an offer yesterday of $24.88 for this new Tommy Bahama beach towel, which I had listed for $39.99 or BO. My husband occasionally works at a multi-million development exclusive clubhouse to help earn us some extra $$ and they were giving away these towels, along with Tommy Bahama wet/dry clothing bags and bathing suit detergent, as an amenity to guest. Well guess who's the bosses favorite because he was given a leftover amenity to take home. I kept the other items but decided to put up the towel. I'm fine with my cheap Costco beach towels, which I think are actually better quality anyway.

I guess if someone is willing to spend over $30 for a towel, I might as well sell it to them.

While thrifting a while back, I found this Patagonia Capilene base layer shirt on one of the men's racks. What would you know, it's from the same multi-million dollar development my husband works for. The shirt had a stain but it is Patagonia, I knew it would sell. And sell it did....even with a misspelled title!

Lastly, I just wanted to thank Ms. Tina Shake over at My Secret Ebay Diary for the tips on men's western shirts. This classic mens wrangler shirt was thrifted from a rummage sale for $0.50 and sold for $24.99. It only took about a week to sell too. I love rummage sales like that one, all clothes were $0.50. I spent $11.50 on a bunch of stuff and I've already sold the wrangler shirt for $24.99, an Under Armour hoodie for $25.00 and Under Armour base layer shirt for $19.99. That's a $58.48 profit!

That's about it for this roundup of sales. Cross your fingers that eBay releases me from their black hole soon. I need to save for a wild bachelorette party with my bff's in April (an overnighter in Honolulu, one island away! Yipee) and a San Diego trip in June.