New Year's Resolution -- Make more time in the day

I'm currently in re-grouping mode -- I'm working on cleaning up and organizing the old stock room so I can work more effectively on eBay. I got a mini photo studio for Christmas, which - I hope - will improve the quality of my photographs for smaller items. But I need to make space.

I'm also working on several little side ventures -- a store on Art Fire a new site, similar to Etsy, that will sell handcrafted items as well as vintage -- I'm moving my vintage arts and crafts patterns/books and some kitschy little things that get lost on eBay to this site. I've just started stocking it, but you can check it out here. I'm also hoping to make some original products to sell here -- my mind is buzzing with ideas for arty little items, I've just got to get going on them. I am addicted to crochet right now and am devoting too much time to that and not enough time to eBay (so now I'm too broke to buy yarn)

I've also been writing articles on eHow and am finally making a tiny bit of cash from that, so I need to keep up with writing (check the side bar for some of my eBay-related articles) -- and what seems almost more important, promoting my articles so people actually read them.

Anyway -- I'm having a brief year-end sale to clear out Christmas merchandise and other items that have been in my store several months -- buy it up, people, many bargains to be had.

O Sweet Electricity!

After 6 long days without power, I'm back. I managed to send out a batch of packages mid-week by hanging out in front of The Apple Store at the mall and using their wireless connection --- much fun on my tiny little iPod Touch. I don't have a laptop, but it does do in a pinch: I got addresses - transcribing them into an actual paper notebook (shocking);sent a bulk email to let people know the reason for the delay (with the help of the conveniently located Apple Geniuses); and relisted a number of items.

The only thing I couldn't do was new listings. So I am planning a bunch for the weekend -- the lack of auctions closings through the week will put a serious crimp in my pre-payday cash flow. Luckily I have had a fairly steady stream of store purchases -- keep on buying people!!

Now off to work.

Surprise sale of the week

Well the Vested Gentress dress sold, though not as well as expected -- 12 watchers, but only 2 bidders. I did get an unexpected surprise though with this Eileen Fisher wool jacket -- picked it up for only $5 -- making 21 times that is a nice way to end a Sunday evening.

Fun Find of the Week -- Vested Gentress dress

This charming dress is from collectible maker Vested Gentress of Valley Forge, Pa., which according to the Vintage Fashion Guild's Label Resource was in business from 1961 to the late 1980s. The company specialized in brightly colored novelty prints made in to simple, very well-made clothing for Ladies Who Lunch and other country-club types.

I have come across a number of VG pieces over the past few years and they never fail to be decent sellers, though don't quite bring as much as I think they should. I wish I had saved photos of the first couple of pieces I found -- a skirt suit with a print of tiny tigers and a terrific white dress -- styled just like the one shown here - with a print of large bright yellow running horses around the full skirt. I'm sure it was worn to the Kentucky Derby.


I did turn up a pic of the last piece I found, a shift dress with the same cute cartoonish dog. This one was sold to a buyer in France, I think for about $36. At one point I had found a site of a VG collector with a ton of items shown, but can't find it anymore (note to self - when in doubt, bookmark). If you want to check out more VG designs, take a look at this recent post to the Palm Peach Blog.

Right now there are about 5 auction listings for VG dresses ranging from $10-$24 and 15 store listings from $16 to $125. There are 14 closed listings with sold prices from $10 to $177. I'm planning to list my current dress - a very wearable size 10 -- on Sunday for a starting bid of $32 in the vintage category. Check back here to see how it does.

Who would have thought?

I almost didn't list this vintage miniature cap gun. I found it in a toy box at an estate sale a few weeks ago and paid just a quarter for it. Quite a nice return on investment.

In doing a bit of online research, I found there is quite a community of miniature cap gun collectors and some of these little items can fetch quite a good price.

Just goes to show you, there's a market for most everything on eBay. Today I'm off to the thrifts to see what can I dig up next.

Trash pick-up day for iPhoto

Here's a little tip for all you eBay sellers who use Macs and process your photos with iPhoto -- empty your trash.

I have been using my same un-updatable version of iPhoto 2.0 for about 5 years and lately it has gotten so sluggish that it would actually take hours to get my photos from my camera to my .mac photo host. I would regularly delete photos from my iPhoto library, but (naive me) they weren't really gone.

Lo and behold there was a little file at the bottom of the file menu inside iPhoto labeled trash. I clicked on it yesterday and there sat more than 10,000 photos -- virtually everything I had sold for the past 5 years. I briefly considered going through them to pick out a few favorite items that I could write about, but using the program was like old-fashioned water torture, so I just clicked Empty Trash.

Last night when I uploaded a few photos it was pretty much back to its old self -- I was able to do a few listings and still make it to the couch in time for "Project Runway."

Home Shopping

I did something today as an eBay seller that I haven't done in a long time. I shopped my own house for stuff to sell -- just the way I started out 8 or 9 years ago. One reason for this is I'm homebound. My car is in the shop so my options are limited.

However, some thinning out really is in order -- everytime I opened the kitchen cupboards an avalanche occurred. I came away with several fancy baking pans I used once or twice, a British Aga kettle, a vintage electric kettle and a nearly new toaster with its original box as well as some dishes, glassware, some vintage flower frogs and the cutest little pair of art glass bluebirds.

I also pulled out a pile of stuff of not quite eBay quality that went into the yard sale box (no it still hasn't happened, but I'm closer). Check my listings and Happy shopping.

Welcome back bidders!

My kids went back to school today and the bidders seem to be back - coincidence? Yea Fall! My store also seems to be hopping -- that really goes in bursts, I can go for weeks without a single store item selling and then suddenly, for instance today, 7 items went.

Now I just need to replenish them. I made a quick run this morning while I still had wheels - my car has a transmission problem and is going to the shop -- I scored some vintage Atari games in their original boxes and the cutest Free People dress. The only problem is that it is black -- I have the worst time photographing black clothing, I can never catch any detail. Any tips?

So far, so-so

Well at least I'm sticking to my goal -- yesterday I listed about 12 items and the day before 10. A few of those first 10 were conversions to auction from my store listings. If you've had a store for a while it's good to go in, probably seasonally, and pull out a few items - some overlooked gems -- and give them better exposure by re-listing them as auctions. Since auctions come up more reliably in searches, you'll get a few more eyeballs on them.

While I have stuck to my part of the bargain, I can't say that bidders have been doing the same. I had 2 days in a row where no auction item sold and yesterday, only a $5 item. Boo-hoo, though not unexpected for August.

August eBay goals

Traditionally -- at least in the last 5 years in which I have been seriously doing eBay - August has been a slow month -- both for me getting listings up and for buyers who have more to do. Since we moved to Kentucky from Michigan, I have been getting a bit of a jump start when the kids go back to school in the middle of August and I get my house and my time back.

I seriously need cash (when don't I) and I still have a boatload of stuff (No I still didn't get to the yard sale), so I am going to set a goal of 8-10 new listings per day for the month. I'll go with the idea that -- If I list it - buyers will come! Here's hoping.

Garage Sale Part 2

Well, the sale just didn't happen last weekend, so I am trying again. The weather is much nicer this week anyway --- it dropped down to the 80s and the humidity died down to a tolerable level.

The plan for today is --

sort through and organize the huge pile in the center of the garage -- put clothing into boxes by size -- pulling out things that need to hang on racks.

price glassware and collectibles already in the garage

go through our closets, kitchen cupboards and basement for more items

For Friday.

make signs and price lists

post sale on Craigslist (our paper raised their prices again and it's over $25 for a 4-line ad)

clean up items for sale that have been outdoors (basketball hoop and baseball net)

move patio tables to driveway

post signs by 5 p.m.

Garage Sale

Not everything I buy to sell on eBay actually finds a new home. Sometimes, no matter how cool the item - the right bidder just doesn't see it. Other times, when I bring it home I find something wrong with the item -- just not eBay worthy (at least for me)-- or I decide it's too heavy or otherwise difficult to ship.

When I get a whole pile of those things -- as well as assorted flotsam & jetsam from the family mucking up the works, I just have to purge with a garage sale. Strangely enough, this usually coincides with the week before a vacation when an extra couple of hundred bucks are never unwelcome.

That time is now. If I can get my packages out quickly I'll get sorting and pricing and see if I can pull something together for tomorrow. I like to go 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and take the leftovers directly to Goodwill (where I have to remember not to repurchase the items the next week). Off to work.

My Amazon closet

Off the metaphoric back of my eBay Stockroom is an Amazon Closet. A few months ago I decided to start listing all my books using Amazon's used book service. I'd never had great luck on eBay with books but they are hard to resist when you're a frequent thrifter like me -- only 50 cents so there is a nice margin for profit.

I started my Amazon store as a way to introduce my 15-year-old daughter to the world of work and to get a little business started that she could take with her when she goes off to college. My store is Elirie_Books, named for a character in the comics she draws.

I love it because it is so easy -- usually no picture to take or description to write, just plug in the ISBN number and the pic and description come up for you. You just have to fill in a note about its description, set your price and you're good to go. Anytime any one searches for that title on Amazon your book will come up as an option to buying new.

When a book sells, you get an email (or if you're like me you check your account a couple times a day), click print invoice (which has a label with the buyer's address you can slap on the front of your package) and send it out. The buyer has already paid Amazon. Amazon sends your your share of the sale every 2 weeks. Each book sold includes a $3.99 shipping credit (about a $1 more than it costs to send a book via media mail).

I've got my daughter started plugging in the ISBNs and listing the books - I buy the books and do the shipping. She just got her first "paycheck" for $40 - a third of the 2-week profit.

Couldn't be easier -- all you sellers with books laying around should give it a try.

7 for Someone Else

Last week in my favorite thrift, they rolled out a new rack just as I was going to check out -- I detoured and thought I had hit the jackpot. There were not one or two, but 5 pair of 7 for All Mankind jeans, all new with tags. A bit fishy, right - but hey I've pulled Prada shoes, new Coach bags, Escada suits and more from these same racks. The fabric felt a bit light, but I thought it was worth a try for $15 bucks.

So far I've never knowingly sold a fake (and no one has complained of getting one either), so I wasn't going to list them without some due diligence. A quick search brought up a killer eBay Guide that briefly raised, then quickly dashed my hopes for big profits -- thanks a lot jenuine_bruin (no really). Everything was good until I got to the part about the top part of the 3s on the size labels not being rounded and the undersides of the rivets - all marked with 7s - not being flat. That's how good the fakes are now -- all the hardware is stamped - even the tags are the same.

My next dilemma was what to do with the 5 pair of worthless-to-me jeans (you know my butt wasn't squeezing into them). I felt like a dweeb taking them back to Goodwill (they do have a 10-day return policy) -- "These jeans I paid $3 a pair for are not real designer jeans, boo hoo." But I swallowed my shame -- hey $15 bucks is $15 bucks!

New Frontiers

After plugging away at just listing my items on eBay -- and doing pretty well, but not quite well enough -- I'm trying to take advantage of some of the marketing tools that eBay offers. Today its uploading my stuff to Google Base -- I'm on attempt number two -- didn't put in my store URL the first time (can we say newbie). I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm also trying some customer discount programs (more on that later) and to do a store newsletter. It seems I have 10 subscribers but no newsletter -- which is sad, because in my past life I spent 7 years as a newsletter editor!

There is so much information out there on eBay affiliate programs and other ways to boost your eBay bottom line -- but it all seems a bit shady, like it's some sort of scam. I'm thinking I may start a separate blog just to provide practical seller info that tells you what's working and what's not from my own perspective without the sale's pitch.

Up Way Too Early

Woke up at 6:45 this morning -- shocking for summer. There are just not enough hours in the day. I was posting eBay items -- some nice vintage -- until about midnight but still didn't sleep that well. Not too many items sold last night, but I still have about 10 packages to get out this fine morning -- plus 2 large glass items that need extra attention (and materials and time). When will I learn to resist oversize items, no matter how cool they are - especially when breakable! Enough moaning -- to work.

I'm back

Well .... what can I say blog, it wasn't you, it was me - me and my laziness and altogether selfish attitude about my free time. I'm sorry I've been so neglectful. Now that I'm back, I swear it won't happen again.