Good Karma

Sometimes buyers really piss me off. There. I said it. I don't get why they make a best offer and then don't pay when it's accepted.

For example, the sweater below was listed in my shop for $45. I received an offer from a buyer the MONDAY before Christmas and she wanted to receive the item by FRIDAY. She went on and on about how much she loved the sweater blah blah blah. So I accept her offer, inform her that Express Mail is the best guarantee for shipping and thank her in advance for her quick payment. Except she never paid. Not sure why my phone shows it as paid, because it was clearly never paid.

Fast forward to a week later. No payment. It's the week after Christmas. She clearly does not need it anymore.

Rather than force her to pay through an unpaid item dispute, I kindly requested to cancel the transaction. Bummed that I wouldn't be getting rid of another bulky sweater and not banking the $25, the cancel transaction was approved about an hour ago. Haven't had a sale in two days and was feeling kind of down.

I just checked my email again (approximately 10 minutes ago now) and found an instant payment notification for this lovely item below. Paid $5 for this guy back in July and had to wrestle it away from my two year old and hide it in the back of a closet.

I also sold this Power Rangers toy a couple weeks ago. Yep, bought this one for $5 as well from the same sale.

Moral of the story: Be kind to others and you may be rewarded generously. Wishing you a wonderful New Year with much properity from selling castoffs in the coming year!

Whoop whoop! I'm a Top Rated Bronze Powerseller Now

I've neglected my house, missed a lot of Zumba and even let my husband take over the dinner duties for the last month. But I guess it was worth it because I became an eBay Top Rated Seller today and Bronze Powerseller. 

I really have to thank the fine peeps over at eBay Underground for helping me get to this point. I've been selling for three years and never really got anywhere until I found this discussion forum. 

Good things are coming in 2012!

BOLO: Swanndri New Zealand Wool Jackets

Remember the Swanndri jacket that I posted about last week? The one that was new with tags and cost me $6?

It sold within 4 days of listing it for this price here.

Talk about a home run. I'm going to quote my two year old on this, "ho yea bebe!"

Think Before You Donate

A while back my sister dropped off two bags of items that she had been planning to donate to the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Shop. She said I could have first crack at selling them and donate the rest.

Well, thank God she did because not only did I score some uber-cute Lululemon workout wear and a brand spanking new Fhi Hair Straightener (what was she thinking, lol), but I've sold many items in those bags for a nice profit. My personal favorites are the items that belonged to her ex-bf including some video games and a book. Chel, if you are reading this, I owe you a check.

Here's some of the highlights:

BCBG Ruched Top sold for $15

 BCBG dress sold for $10.50

 Lucy Love Tweed Vest sold for $4.50.

 AG Jeans sold for $24.99

TRX Training DVD sold for $28. BTW, she's an awesome personal trainer if anyone on Kauai needs to get in shape.

Moral of the story: Think before you donate to thrift shops. Maybe you can make a buck or two first.

If you need some help selling, I'm happy to do a consignment consultation with you.

Missoni Wool Coat = Happy Thanksgiving

Went on a quick lunch thrift and what do I find? A vintage Missoni wool peacoat! It's the Sport line, does anyone know anything about it? Paid $6 for it. Guess someone from the mainland moved to Hawaii and didn't need their heavy peacoat anymore when it's 75 degrees during Christmas.

In addition, I found a NWT Swanndri plaid jacket for $6. I checked completed listings and every single one has sold and the similar ones sold for $68. I will have the only blue plaid jacket on eBay so I was thinking of BIN at $75, but it might be fun to auction and see what happens since there are some jackets that sold for $175.

Any advice?

I'll try to snap some photos to show everyone  my great finds today.

WTF TUESDAYS WITH SIR THRIFT A LOT

WTF! Did someone chop down Papa Smurf and Smurfettes homes? Or did they forclose due the rough economy?

Well Papa Smurf, I saw two happy humans walking out of the shop with your home minutes after I shot this photo.

Linking to Sir Thrift A Lot's WTF TUESDAY

It Pays to Breastfeed...Literally

Here's a few reasons why I think breastfeeding is the bomb:

1. Ability to feed your child anywhere, anytime, without any hassle.
2. Saving an average $4,000 per year on formula
3. No bottles/cleaning involved
4. Kids receive healthy nutrients that can't be duplicated by formula
5. You lose baby weight quicker
6. SELLING FORMULA COUPONS THAT ARE SENT BY THE MANUFACTURER FOR 100% PROFIT ON EBAY

I posted those coupons last night and by the time I woke up to feed the baby at 2:45 am they had already sold. $9.99 isn't a huge amount, but it was free so there's no complaining on my end.

Home Run Guide is Out of the Park

Holy Mackeral! Have you taken the time to order your own e-book copy of the Home Run Guide yet? It was released today and there are 490 pages of eBay selling info to devour. For $29, I'd say it's worth the investment. It tells you exactly what to buy for practically every category on eBay. The experts share their secrets, tips and personal Home Runs!

My goal is to list this bed today. Well, not literally the bed, but everything on it. Does anyone else's ebay room look like this? Can someone say "Hoarder"! Here I go....

Unloading some weight

Did you know that Weight Watchers stuff sells really well on ebay. Here's a look at a points calculator that I bought at a garage sale for $0.25 last weekend. I still have their dining out guide, a dvd and a couple other weight watcher items to list.  I spent a total of $20 at that garage sale for a bunch of stuff. This sale just about made my money back!

Yay for making money AND helping someone out there get healthy!

Darn it! Just missed my goal.

Wow, last week was a great week of sales! I had three days where I sold at least four items, which doesn't seem like much, but for me is a huge accomplishment.

My goal is to make at least $250 per week on eBay to offset my childcare costs of $1100 per month. No, you do not need to get your eyes checked. You are reading correctly.  We pay $1100 per month for our two little ones to go to day care. Many of you SAHM's are thinking why not just stay home and save the money...well, we have a ridiculously large mortgage. And my husband has mandatory furlough days and had a 5% reduction in annual salary. We wouldn't be able to handle that mortgage and all other expenses without my job.

None the less, I would have made my goal if I gave in to a low ball, crap offer on a brand new in box Tamagotchi Angel that I have, but I'd rather wait for the right buyer to come along and offer me a fair price.

Anyway, here's the highlights of my week:

Paid $5, sold for $26.99

Paid $1, sold for $19.99

Paid $10, Sold for $39.99. Was glad to see this go, I've been hoarding it for a couple years now but only recently put it up for sale.

Paid $2, Sold for $19.99

I'm okay with my sales. It only motivates me to push harder and get things listed. I scored some great finds this weekend that I hope to post later about and I have about five plastic containers of finds that need to be listed.

Like Dori said, "just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

Have a wonderful week!

Christmas in September

The perfect example of why I love eBay. I bought this ornament at a thrift shop a couple weeks ago for $0.50.  That's right, 50 cents. Like the rapper.

Anyway, I decided to auction is with a starting bid of $19.99. I received that starting bid in no time and when the auction ended today, I made $52.29!!!!

With sales like these, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

On another note, my maternity leave ended today. :(

Fun Finds Friday

TGIF. It was a long week. There's been nothing but drama drama drama. It was quite depressing, especially since I had a birthday and couldn't take my mind off the drama. Well, since I am now in the last year of my 20's, the thrifting gods were good to me because I had all these great finds.

This crib set was something I got off of craigslist. The seller only wanted $25 for the whole set. This set costs nearly $350 at Babies R Us! I've seen it sell on eBay for $140 used. The only problem is I can't get the darn mobile apart so that it is easy to pack and ship. Any suggestions?

 Found this Boston Marathon Adidas Climaproof jacket in 2XL. Listed it for $39.99. But now that I think about it, if you are size 2XL, would you really be capable of running a marathon?

This Paul Frank hoodie is in like new condition and only cost $2. Listed it for $19.99 with best offer.

I love selling Ralph Lauren.  This Polo sweater vest was $2 at Salvation Army. I'm going to list it auction style on Sunday. Completed listings show Ralph Lauren sweaters vests as being a pretty good moneymaker.

This Charter Club blouse was new with tags and only cost $1.50. 

New with tags Style & Co. jeans were also $2.

I recently read on a facebook group called "Thrifting with the Boys" that these West Bend Poppery popcorn poppers (that's a tongue twister) can bring in a pretty penny if you get it for cheap enough. I bought this one for $3 and expect to make about $20.

Football season + little girl Steelers dress = good find

Got this new with tags Gymboree romper for $1. Can't wait to see how it does.

To learn more about what sells on eBay, head over to the eBay Underground blog for Fantastic Finds Friday.

Happy Shopping!

Linking to:
Apron Thrift Girl

High Tech Photo Booth

I've always been so jealous of people that have an amazing photo studio and light box in their home...until now. I'm sure they spent a lot more on creating perfect photos for their ebay sales, while I chose to go the free route.  I recently learned this trick from Naomi Wong, a photographer that did our newborn photos at our home.

She had a professional sheet holder thingy, but I'm using my handy laundry hanger that was sitting unused in my garage. (I never line dry or hang my washed clothes up before they wrinkle. I'm just not that kind of girl).

I hung a white sheet that we "borrowed" from a local hotel a while back. Yes, that's ghetto. But there's a perfectly good explanation. I'm just not going to get into it.

Then I placed my dressmaker form in front of the sheet, waved my magic wand and got this....

Oh yeah! Just like the experts.

Meanwhile, my trusty assistant took a nap on the bed. LOL, look at all the packaging materials around him. You can tell he was working hard. ;)

Alzheimer's Association Rummage Sale

Last weekend I spent $20 at a rummage sale. Big spender I know. It was totally worth it. 

This Tommy Bahama shirt cost a little more than I usually like to spend ($10), but the other Tommy christmas shirts were all listed at $99 so I figured it must be a winner.  Well, the other Tommy's hadn't sold yet, probably because no one is buying a hundred dollar Christmas shirt in September...but, I listed it for $59.99 and sold it two days later. I may have been able to get more if I waited, but hey, time is money right!

I also listed this key chain that I found at the sale.  It's a brand new Tokidoki key chain.  A quick trip to the car to check my iphone informed me that the same key chain had previously sold for $25. So I figured why not and bought it for $1.  Actually, I bought two of these key chains for $2.  But this one sold within one night of listing it.

So from the $20 I spent, my profit so far is about $60. I have yet to list the second key chain, homedics lullaby player ($5) naturalizer sandals ($2) and VINTAGE SILVER FERRAGAMO PUMPS ($0.50).

So far so good!

The Thrill of the Hunt

That's me, The Savvy Shopperette

Welcome to my new blog.  I'm an eBay seller that loves thrifting and digging through other people's trash to find buried treasure. The thrill of the hunt is part of the fun in being a re-seller and I'm ADDICTED to thrifting.

Through The Savvy Shopperette, I plan to share my adventures (and misadventures) in hunting for money making treasures.  I'll also share tips and advice for selling on ebay.

The way I see it, this blog will hold me accountable for my goals of making a good living on eBay and also giving my family the financial freedom to have the type of lifestyle we are accustomed to. Yes, I love a deal just as much as anyone out there.  But I also love luxury and designer names. I know you're thinking that you can't have both, but with eBay you can.

So please stop by from time to time and say hello.  I love to learn from my fellow re-sellers on what sells well and what to look for when thrifting.

Aloha!