My New Store!

Well I finally took the plunge and opened my own eBay Store. I took the advice of the Queen of Auctions (at least her articles and newsletters) and will use the store mainly as a way to sell my poor little orphaned auction listings. The rule will be list it twice at auction and move it to the store. There are so many items I list that I can't believe didn't sell -- the store will give them a bit more time for people to find them.

It is still pretty basic -- I'm going back through expired listings for the past year and adding things -- about 50 items in there so far. I used a standard template and just adjusted the colors so there is a cohesive look between my store and my listings. I would like to do something with a bit more personality but my html design skills are zilch -- I'll need to find something to adapt. At any rate -- check out my store here.

Tax time -- ugh

Been a bit slow at getting the listings up this week as I am working at our taxes. I use Turbotax online which seems to work pretty well -- it has the bonus of throwing in - It's Deductible -- which lets you easily calculate and import the value (incredibly high) of all the junk I cart off to Goodwill several times a year.

I'm still not taking a home office deduction, since it's basically my dining room, but I am thinking of taking the inventory storage area deduction because of my new ebay area. This is the first year that I've had a full year of eBay Reports, which also makes it so much easier to add up the eBay and Paypal fees -- I paid eBay $2800 last year! Paypal's bite was about half that. When you tote up all the expenses -- packaging supplies, the actual amount I spent on all the merchandise - it's surprising there's any profit left at all.

Enough griping - this hasn't kept me from going out and spending more! I went to an estate sale on Thursday and picked up some nice clothing and a few collectibles -- some vintage mohair capelets from Scotland, a Griffith Gray St. John Suit (which I later found had a tiny hole in the sleeve - boo), a men's Brooks Bros. Camel Hair jacket, an adorable child's strawberry quilt & pillow sham from The Company Store and a Porshe belt. The next day I picked up a pair of 1915 tankard-style mugs with portraits of dogs on them - very nice - and a pair of Cole-Haan boots. You never know what you'll find next. That's what gets me - the "thrill of the hunt" -- and why my merchandise expense is so high at tax time!

Mid-winter blues

I set out for the solitary estate sale in the paper this morning with high hopes -- it was nearby, said house was filled, low-prices and I got an early start. When I arrived it turned out it was the 2nd weekend of the sale and I only found a few things -- then 2 items turned out to have been broken and repaired when I saw them under better light, so boo!

I took a trip through a couple of thrifts and scored a bunch of expensive shoes in like new condition and a great cashmere blazer. Of course when I got home I found that one pair of boots were actually mismatched -- again boo! Both of these instances tell me I need to pay a bit more attention to details -- rather than get caught up in the thrill of the hunt.

Anyway -- I did many listings this week -- partly due to the 20 cent listing sale eBay had on Thursday and partly because I am a even more of a Warcraft widow this weekend than usual. The expansion pack came out on Tuesday and apparently my charms do not compare to that of the Blood Elf. If you know what that means you are probably in the same boat!

Support your local Girl Scouts!

It's that time again! Girl Scout cookie time. Now through Jan. 28 you can order your favorite cookies from your local troop. Individual troops receive .55 per box to use for service projects, trips and other troop activities. Each council receives funds to support larger scale regional activities.
My personal favs are the coconut/carmel Samoas, with peanut butter Tagalongs a close second. This year they've discontinued the Lemon Coolers and introduced Little Brownies - a crunchy chocolate-chocolate chip cookie that is sugar free. I've had a sample and they're really pretty good.
In our council cookies are $3.50 per box and will be delivered the week of Feb. 22. It is actually a no-no to sell GS cookies on eBay (Girl Scout rules), so please support your local troop. No one knocking on your door -- find your local council here . Still no joy -- shoot me an email and my troop can hook you up.