Guard Your Cart While Shopping at Thrift Stores

You might think that guarding your cart is not that important while shopping at thrift stores right? I mean it's just a bunch of other people's junk? Well if you, like me, believe that, "One man's junk is another man's treasure" as the saying goes, you will want to guard your cart when shopping at Goodwill and other thrift stores. Recently I have had two bad experiences happen to me because I wasn't guarding my cart.

The Cashmere Sweater Incident

The first instance happened when I was shopping in a Goodwill store. I had all of my items in my cart and was headed to the check out area when I decided to just stop by the men's sweater area to see if I could find any cashmere sweaters. I had recently been doing research on what types of clothing sells well on eBay and I read that cashmere sweaters always sell. So you can imagine my excitement when I found a camel colored men's cashmere mock turtleneck sweater on the rack, with absolutely no holes or flaws. I excitedly put it into my cart and because it was the last item in my cart, it was on top of a pile of clothes. When I got in line, I realized that I had forgotten my wallet in my car, so I had to run out to the parking lot to get it. Wanting to keep my cart in a convenient area, I asked the cashier on the end of the line of cash registers if I could keep my cart near her while I ran out to the car to get my wallet. She said, "sure" and I parked my cart between her and the jewelry counter, at the front of the store. How long does it take to go out and get a wallet? Not very long. I imagine it was actually less than five minutes. I came back in and retrieved my cart and headed to the end of the line. As I was standing there I looked down and it seemed to me that something was missing. I counted all my items, and knew I had found 12, but only 11 were in the cart. Then I realized it: the cashmere sweater, my prized purchase of the day, was missing!

I got up to the counter and the cashier, trying to make conversation, said, "Hi, how are you today?" I am sure she didn't expect a real answer but I gave her one anyway because I was so annoyed. I said I was not doing very well because someone had taken a cashmere sweater out of my cart. She looked at me a bit wide eyed and asked very quietly, "Was it tan?" I was surprised that she asked this and I said yes. She told me she checked out a woman, and while she was checking out the next customer, a younger woman that she assumed was her daughter, the lady came back, threw a tan sweater onto the pile and told the younger woman to pay for it and she would pay her back. I was really annoyed and told her where my cart was and that I had asked the cashier on the end if I could leave it there. She must have gone by, saw the sweater, grabbed it and headed back to the cashier. I was so upset that day and felt I had actually been robbed. The cashier felt badly too, as though she was somehow part of this injustice! I assured her it wasn't HER fault. BUT then someone mentioned to me that the woman might have thought that was a cart of items to be re-shelved and that they were up for grabs. That was the only way that was emotionally healthy enough for me to resign myself that the sweater, my very first cashmere treasure, had been taken, and so that's what I will assume. BUT from that day on, I always head first to the men's department of the thrift store I am in, find a very large shirt, or coat and hook it to the seat in the cart, so that my treasures underneath will be concealed from prying eyes. Then before I go to the checkout, I put the shirt or coat back on the rack I got it from. Here's a photo so you can see what I mean.

The Potty Break Incident

The next time something happened because I wasn't guarding my cart was just a few days later. I went into a thrift store outlet (my favorite place to shop for eBay items) and I had put four items into my cart and realized I had to use the rest room. I parked my cart at the end of an aisle not far from the rest room, and was in the rest room for only a few minutes. When I returned, my cart was GONE! I thought at first that I just didn't remember where I had left it, so I wandered around a few aisles to see if I could find it, but it was nowhere in sight. Although it wasn't a full cart (thank goodness) those four items had taken me a half hour to find, so it was wasted time. I looked around at the carts nearby shoppers were using and my items weren't in them, so I decided to check a few of the racks and see if my items had been put back. Sure enough, there they were all hanging back on their original racks. The store was fairly busy so I was surprised the clerks had had the time to discover my unguarded cart and put the items back! I think I will make up a sign on an index card stating not to touch the cart and that I will be right back and keep it in my purse for just such occasions in the future. I mean, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go, right?!

After these two back to back incidents, I have certainly learned my lesson. When you have shopped at thrift stores, either for yourself, or to sell on eBay, have any of you had any trouble with items disappearing from your cart when shopping?

Shaking in the Aisles at Goodwill

Periodically when I am in a thrift store, or more often than not, at a Goodwill store, I come across an item so amazing in terms of eBay profits, that I feel a bit dizzy and start to get a little shaky. Some of you who may not be eBay sellers may think I am crazy. But those of you who search thrift stores, Goodwill stores and yard sales for buried treasure know exactly what I am talking about.

A few of the items are worthy of sharing with you so here goes:

I was looking through a bin at a Goodwill not too far from me a few weeks ago. I was disappointed because I hadn't found anything worthy of the trip at first glance. So I found myself looking a bit harder in areas of that Goodwill store that I would normally not pay much attention to. One of these areas was the stuffed animal section. I know that there are some people that do really well selling plush on eBay. Ordinarily, I was not one of those people. But after the find below, which is a stuffed Marmot by the Steiff company, made in West Germany, I have changed my tune. I always look through the stuffed animal section now.

When I first saw this guy I didn't think much of him. But I am learning to read tags and when I noted a metal tag in his ear, I actually had a little bit of a chill run through my body! LOL...I'm not kidding! I peered at it through my glasses but couldn't read it at first. I think my brain was just not computing that I had found a Steiff stuffed animal in a bin at the Goodwill store! But when I brought it over to the light and read the name,"Steiff" on the tag, I nearly jumped for joy, and began, just a tiny bit, to shake with excitement. I asked a clerk what the cost of stuffed animals was and he said unless they are otherwise marked, it was $1.01. I have gotten into the habit of ONLY allowing myself to go to Goodwill stores on Sundays, the first day items with a certain color tag are marked down 50%, and Tuesdays, when as a senior (55 and over) EVERYTHING in the store is 25% off. That day was a Tuesday, and so with my 25% discount, I scored a Steiff stuffed animal for 76 cents! It hasn't sold yet but prices on the internet for this exact animal run $19 o $25 so I just have to be patient and wait for the right buyer.

By the way, if you, like me when I discovered this little guy, have no idea what a marmot is, it's similar to a ground hog/woodchuck. Silly me, I thought it was a beaver and couldn't find any for sale on eBay when I originally looked him up.

Next was this absolutely gorgeous men's Pendleton red plaid shirt. There it was, just sitting in front of me on the rack at Goodwill. It was beautiful; as beautiful a specimen of a classic men's red plaid shirt made by Pendleton can be. I knew whoever bought it would be VERY happy with it, so I snapped it up for $5.75 and of course it was on a Tuesday so I only paid $4.35 for it. It sold for $24.95 within 24 hours of my listing it and I made a clear profit of $12.70.

I was at another Goodwill store and had recently read that Dansko shoes/sandals are good sellers on eBay. I was soooo excited to see a pair of women's Dansko shoes in a Mary Jane style on a shelf at Goodwill. I grabbed them for a closer look and my mind was racing a mile a minute. I actually looked around to see if anyone else in the aisle had spied my treasure. I was all alone in that shoe aisle, quivering with excitement!(Okay, I will admit it doesn't take much to get me excited!) I took them home and listed them for $34.95. I was happy when they sold within a week. But alas, they didn't fit comfortably on the woman who bought them on eBay so she sent them back for a refund. I decided since they had sold so quickly, I would experiment with the price a bit and listed them $5.00 higher at $39.95, and they sold in 24 hours! Wow, that was thrilling! I ended up having to ship them to California, which costs more from where I live than shipping to the east coast. But I still made a profit of $17.00 and was quite happy with that. AND to top it off this second customer gave me fantastic feedback and said they were even better than I had described them. I love a happy customer!

Although I would like to find things that sell for this much of a profit and more on a regular basis, I still need to have items that are lower in value to sell things regularly and keep the money coming in each week. But I will always be on the lookout for treasures that I can sell on eBay and make a higher profit. My average sale earns about $12 in profit. I am finding that sometimes what I consider an eBay treasure may not actually bring me a huge profit, but is something I know is very good quality and will sell well on eBay fairly quickly.

How about you? Have you found any treasures that brought in some good money on eBay lately? What is the average profit you make on your eBay items?

You Can Find Brand New Items to Sell on eBay

Just for fun, I want you to take a guess at how much you think I paid for both of these items, in total, before you read the rest of this post. So go ahead and guess how much you think I paid, in total including tax, for the blouse and jacket in this picture, and write it down or just keep it in your mind.

I love a good bargain and I got 2 bargains at Kohl's this past week. It all started a few weeks ago when I went to Kohl's to use a gift card I received for Christmas. I waited to use it till I got a 30% off coupon in the mail. As I always say," A sale is good, a coupon is good but combining a sale with a coupon is golden." While I was at Kohl's I decided to buy some gifts I needed for an upcoming birthday, since they were having a great sale and I had the 30% off coupon to use on the gifts. When I checked out, I was given $20.00 worth of Kohl's cash to use the next month.

On Monday, I went to Kohl's determined to get something as close to $20.00 as I could. I was shopping for me, because we have a trip coming up and I needed something for it. But I could have just as easily have been shopping for new items to resell on eBay. I bought this blouse, normally $36.00, on sale for 60% off at $14.40, and the jacket, normally $36.00, on sale for 70% off at $10.80.

I also had my 30% off coupon to use. Then because both of them were on sale racks that said "take an additional 20% off the lowest ticketed price," even I was surprised when the clerk told me the final amount. I think she was surprised too! The total amount I paid out of pocket was...ready for it... 17 cents!

Now I am keeping these items for myself, but I am writing this on my eBay blog to show you how it is also possible to purchase items on sale in regular stores and resell them on eBay too. You just have to be a bit creative about it.

Okay, time to fess up...how much was your guess as to how much I paid for those 2 items? You can leave it in the comment section below...happy shopping, for yourself, or to resell on eBay!

Patagonia Sells Well on eBay

I had heard that the Patagonia brand of clothing sells well on eBay, especially in men's clothing. But never had a chance to personally sell any items of this brand until this week. I was in a thrift store last week sourcing for potential items to sell on eBay. I happened upon a men's Patagonia Synchilla fleece vest. It was in perfect condition. I was so excited I had to resist the urge to shout for joy! I was with a friend and ran right over and showed her. She doesn't sell on eBay so she wasn't quite as excited about this find as I was.

I took it home, washed it, as I always do for all of the clothes I sell on eBay, and listed it. The prices for this same Patagonia vest were running between $18.00 and $35. I listed it for $32.00 with shipping included. It sold 2 days later! Now because I included free shipping, I will lose some of that, and including the eBay/Paypal fees and the cost of my original $2.00 I paid for it, I will still make a profit of $18.00. Not bad and an easy sell.

Some of you may be wondering if I could have sold it for more. I am sure that I could have, BUT that would mean it would be sitting around in my eBay closet for a lot longer. I already don't have much extra room in that closet. And within a few months, the warmer weather will be here and it may not have sold till next fall if I priced it too high. So I am happy with the money I earned on this Patagonia vest, and the fact that my bank account will be a bit fatter this week.

What do you think? Would you have priced this item higher even if it meant sitting on it and hoping for a buyer?

Learning From Other eBay Sellers

Suzanne A. Wells

I have been selling seriously on eBay for one year now. Before that I just dabbled here and there. But one thing I have learned for sure over the years is that you can learn a lot from other eBay sellers. I belong to a Facebook group called, "Stay at Home Moms Selling on eBay" and the founder of the group, Suzanne A. Wells, has been selling on eBay and making a living at it for quite some time now. She posts articles on the online website "The Examiner" and I always find them helpful. Last week I read an article she wrote about selling "ugly" shoes on eBay. The title interested me because I have been dabbling in selling shoes on eBay and my sales have been not too shabby!

My SAS Sandals Find

So I read her article, the basis of which was a lot of people have special needs regarding their feet and although there are some ugly shoes out there in the world, people will buy them for comfort, especially people who have diabetes and need special support shoes. I wrote some of the names down in my little notebook, and one of the names I wrote down was SAS shoes. They are designed for comfort. You can imagine my surprise and excitement when the very next day, I found a pair of SAS sandals (see above picture) in my local thrift store for $2.00! Personally I don't find them all that ugly, but I snapped them up and went home and researched how much they were selling for on eBay.

Although there were no shoes listed in the size 7N that I had found, I found a few of the exact same pair listed for between $26 and $40, some with shipping included and some without. I decided to list my SAS sandals for $35.00 with shipping included on Friday. They sold Sunday (that's in two days) for $35 and I expect that shipping will be $8.00 to $10, and after subtracting my initial $2.00 investment, I should make at least a $23.00 profit! Not bad in my opinion. I wish all of my items would sell that quickly.

Learning From Others

But the point of this post is that it can be quite helpful to learn from other eBay sellers, especially if you are just starting out. If you know anyone who is doing well selling on eBay, I suggest you talk to them and get some pointers. Also, you can go to the Facebook page for the Stay at Home Moms Selling on eBay group and join. Even though it says it's a closed group, they accept new people. That group has so much to offer and I have learned a lot from them.

Also, I would suggest that you check out YouTube videos for people who sell on eBay. They show you items they have bought and how much they have sold for, or how much they expect to get from each item. My favorite is a guy named Steve Raiken, but he puts his videos on YouTube under "Raiken Profits." The guy is a fountain of knowledge for how to earn on eBay, and he is from my old stomping grounds in Connecticut.

Do you know of any other good websites or people on YouTube that we can all learn from? If so, please leave the information in the comments below. Thanks, and happy selling!

Putting Your eBay Store on Vacation Really Works

Taking Break From eBay

I just got back from a fifteen day cruise with my husband. We were gone for 18 days all together. I have an eBay store and part of the reason I decided to get a store was so I could put my items on vacation as we travel frequently. After I got the store, I started hearing stories from other sellers about how putting their store on vacation caused a dip in sales for up to two weeks. That panicked me because I don't want to lose that kind of money. So, I did some research and asked people I knew that had a store. They told me that if possible, even when my store was on vacation, I should still get on daily and revise items and continue listing as much as possible. I had done this when we were on vacation within the United States. But it meant I couldn't actually get away and relax.

But for the cruise, I wasn't able to do this. We took a transatlantic cruise on the Royal Princess which started in England, then went to Holland, France, Spain, Portugal and the Azores. While we did have internet access, it takes so long to get online while on a cruise ship, and then longer to access websites, that it would really be wasting money to do anything on eBay while away. So I made the decision to put my eBay store on vacation, and not touch it till we got back, so I could actually take a vacation myself. I was feeling a bit burnt out anyway so really needed a break.The photo above is of me on the ship as we set sail from Southampton,England.

Whew, What a relief!

We were due back on Monday, September 21st, and I had a little extra time left on my shop internet account, so I went into my eBay account and took my store off vacation. I was surprised and thrilled the next day when we returned to see that I had a sale the same night I took my store of vacation mode, and two more sales on that day, the day we returned home. So in my situation, putting my store on vacation gave me a much needed break and it didn't seem to hurt my sales at all. I am thrilled and relieved that I will be able to do this in the future, and really get a true vacation. Do you have an eBay store? Have you put it on vacation and how did it work for you?

Spent $3.25 and Made $29.85 on eBay

I have to say I really LOVE selling on eBay. But you have probably already figured that out if you have read any of my other posts. I have so much fun finding things at thrift stores and reselling them for a profit. And the most fun I have is when something sells at a price that surprises me. That's what happened recently.

Selling Wallpaper Border

I had read on an eBay Facebook site that I belong to that wallpaper borders sell well on eBay. Huh, really? I didn't think anyone used wallpaper borders anymore. But when I saw some at a great price at a local thrift store, I decided to give it a try.

I found a plastic bin filled with packages of old wallpaper borders at the thrift store I go to quite often. I didn't really believe they would sell well, so I bought a set of four packages blue Marimekko 4 inch wallpaper borders, and then an extra one that was partially opened so I could show what the design was. There were plenty more, BUT I wanted to just proceed cautiously in case they didn't sell after all. The rolls had been around awhile and the UPC stickers on them were yellowed. A couple had rips in the plastic wrap but they were scrubbable and washable so I figured they would clean up well. I listed the 4 rolls on eBay, with the opened one displayed on top. I was very honest about their condition in my description. At first, I listed them at a price of $14.95 for the 4 rolls. I had no bites for a couple weeks so I started playing around with the price lowering it until it sold. The 4 rolls sold for $10.95 a few weeks after I listed them, and I threw in the open roll as well because it was still usable. So for that sale, I spent $1.25 on 5 rolls and sold them for $10.95.

List, Sell, Repeat!

The other day I happened to be in the same thrift store and found the same bin. There were another 4 rolls of the same blue wallpaper border in the bin, again each for 25 cents. There were only 4 this time so I could open a roll and show the design but I was hoping people would get the idea of what it looked like from my pictures. I also found a set of 4 rolls in the same Marimekko design, but in a putty color. I decided to give those a try as well.

I listed the 4 blue rolls for $10.95 again on a Saturday night. I woke up Sunday morning and checked my eBay site to see they had already sold. That night I listed the 4 putty colored rolls and...you got it, they sold within 24 hours as well! So all together I spent $3.25 for 13 rolls of wallpaper border and earned $29.85. Not a bad turnaround if I do say so myself!

Research and Learn

One of the most important things I have learned through my experience selling on eBay is that in order to do well and increase sales, a seller must always be willing to learn. I spend a lot of time on YouTube watching videos of successful eBay sellers. I also belong to a couple of eBay Facebook groups and people post questions all the time and we all learn from each other. What makes you a successful eBay seller?