Fantastic Finds Friday

We want to hear all about your Fantastic Finds! This features isn't about your exciting sales. It's about your exciting finds! There are so many places to find inventory: your closet, your garage, a yard sale, thrift stores, a consignment item you're selling for someone else. What did you find this week that you are excited about? It can be something you're excited to get listed OR something you're excited to keep! You can even post to your listing, if you'd like. Free advertising!

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I truly enjoyed my vacation last week and am s-l-o-w-l-y getting back to my eBay.  I say slowly because right now I'm preparing for a hurricane heading up my way as well as getting back into school mode for my boys.  I'm excited though because I have a lot of inventory to work on and once my kids are back in school it's so much easier for me to get into my "zone"!

My find this week is a Nativity Playset by Fisher-Price.  Last year I got my hands on a similar one that I sold on Amazon for around $50.

Nativity sets like these are very popular, especially around the holidays (if you can imagine that).  This particular set I have is available on Amazon for $59.99 on up brand new.  There are no used ones listed.  I will list mine on eBay where they are available for $35 on up.  I still have to inspect and take pictures but I plan on doing that today.  Now is the best time to list any seasonal items...my favorites being winter coats, boots and Halloween costumes. 

Happy eBaying!

~Lesley

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All day yesterday, I thought it was Wednesday. So now I'm all messed up. I didn't get out much this week. I hit Goodwill on Saturday and that's it. There aren't even any good yard sales in the paper today :(  I didn't even find anything fantastic. I got a Notre Dame Cathedral Puzz 3-D for $1.99, but on my first count, I'm short 2 pieces. I'll recount it this weekend. Mine is the one of the actual building (not just the ceiling, and not the one with the explosion on it ... ???) If it's complete, I should be able to get $30-40 for it. Also got a Wilton Batman pan for $2.99, a small Pyrex cinderella bowl for 99c, and 3 pairs of shoes.
 ~Jessica

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What did you find this week? Anything exciting?

My Top eBay Moments This Week

This week has felt a little slower than the last several weeks. Looking at my Sellebrity chart, I see that my visitors have decreased just a touch. I'll keep a close eye on that over the next few days to see if I'm headed into a blackout.

Over the past 7 days, I had 32 sales (12 of which were shoes). An unpaid item case is open against a buyer who bought 2 pairs of shoes, and I had one complaint about a pair of shoes that fell apart. After seeing pictures of the damage, I have my doubts that they were the ones I sent, but what are ya gonna do? I also had an email from a hot roller buyer wondering where the clips were. Crazy timing, because a couple hours before I got that email, I had told our group that I'd never had anyone ask me where the clips were to hot rollers they had bought. I pointed out that the listing said they weren't included, and I never heard from her again.

The highlights:

This is an Okie Dokie snowsuit that I've had listed since February. I know, spring and summer aren't exactly ideal for selling snowsuits, but I was still happy to see it go this week. It was taking up a lot of valuable real estate in my closet. Paid less than a dollar for it in February, sold it for $22.

I bought these in May and just didn't get around to listing them until 2 weeks ago. I paid $3.49 for them and sold them very quickly for $30. My buyer's feedback said, "Thanks. Love the color!"  They are bright!

I've had these for awhile. Clairol Kindness hot rollers usually sell pretty well for me, but this set and another (Clairol Kindness Deluxe - even better usually) both sat in my store for quite some time! The Deluxe is still sitting there, in fact. I bought them in December, but I probably didn't list them until March or so. (Have you caught on to the fact that I'm not very good at listing stuff as soon as I bring it home??) I paid $3.15 and sold them for $34.99. These are the ones that didn't include clips.

Sebago. The jury is still out on this brand. I'll only buy them if they are in excellent condition. I bought them for $2.99 in May, but I didn't get them listed until recently. I think Back to School was on my side here, because they sold quickly. Sent them to Sweden for $35.

I think it's safe to assume that every week, my Top eBay Moments post will include a pair of Docs. This was a super-fast flip! I bought them on August 20th, listed them on the 24th and sold them on the 25th. I paid $2.99 for them and sold them for $45. You'll never guess where they're headed....

And my top sale of the week! This is a very hard to find mug. If you find it - snatch it up quickly! My sister-in-law picked it up for me back in December for 37 cents. I had it listed ridiculously high for months. Then a month or so ago, I lowered my price a bit. I got an offer for $75 the other day. I checked Terapeak and saw that very few of these had sold over the past year, and all the ones that did sold for right around $75, so I took the offer. Buyer paid quickly and has left positive feedback already. Yay!

What were your favorite sales this week?

Meltonian Now Available for Immediate Shipment

Whew! After a gazillion troubles with my listing service, I have finally got all my Meltonian listed in my eBay store. Everything you see listed there is available for immediate shipment. I have a few other shoe care products that I will be listing tomorrow (they will show up in that same link once they are listed). If you would like any of the colors you see in that listing, go ahead and order through eBay. If you need a color or some other shoe care product that I don't currently have listed, then come on over to our eBay Underground thread and let me know what you need. Or feel free to contact me through the Contact Us link at the top of this page or by leaving a comment on this post.

I'll be placing my order on Wednesday, August 31.

Shoe Care Orders

I just announced yesterday that I've temporarily done away with my Addoway store until I can get my shoe products into my eBay store. I think I am ready to stock up again. I will be placing a large custom order with my supplier on Wednesday, August 31. That's one week away. Is there anything you need to complete your shoe repair arsenal?

Here's what I can get:

Meltonian Shoe Cream in a wide variety of colors ($2.25 each)
Sole & Heel edge dressing in black or brown ($4.00 each)
Barge Cement for repairing torn leather flaps ($4.25 each)
Suede and Nubuck eraser for the shiny spots on suede shoes ($7.00 each)
Kiwi Parade Gloss in black ($4.50) or brown ($4.25)
Suede and Nubuck aerosol cleaner ($4.25)
Suede Brush ($3.00)
Shoe Shine Buffing Brush ($6.00 each)
1/4" edge brush for use with edge dressing ($3.25 each)
1/2" edge brush ($4.50 each)


***I also have a variety of starter kits if you're unsure of what you need to get started:

Prices for these include shipping.

Kit #1 - Full Kit $35.95:

• 6 creams (black, neutral, 4 shades of brown)
• 2 sole & edge dressings (1 each black & brown)
• 1 large buffing brush
• 2 small edge brushes (for applying edge dressing)

Kit #2 - Creams & Buffing Brush $21.45

• 6 creams (black, neutral, 4 shades of brown)
• 1 large buffing brush

Kit #3 - Edge Dressings & Brushes $19.45

• 2 edge dressings (1 each black & brown)
• 2 small edge brushes

Kit #4 - Suede Starter Kit $18.25

• suede eraser
• suede cleaner
• suede brush

Shipping:

1 item $3.95
2 items $4.95
3 - 12 items $5.95
13+ items: contact me for shipping quote

Edge brushes ship free with anything else. If you order an edge dressing and an edge brush, shipping would be the $3.95 for just 1 item.

So if you are interested in any of this stuff, now's the time to let me know. You can contact me through the "Contact Us" link at the top of this blog, or you can leave a comment on this post, or you can come join us on Proboards for the latest group order discussion.

Shoe Products on Addoway

Just a note ... my shoe care Addoway store is gone for the time being. I am in the process of getting all my shoe products into my eBay store. Until I get that done, if you need anything, please let me know through the Contact Us link at the top of this blog.

Give Yourself a Break

Ask anyone who knows me, and they will probably be able to tell you how devoted I am to my business. I have set (and achieved!) some pretty high goals for myself over the last few weeks. We will be starting school up the day after Labor Day, so my current goal is to get the last of my stuff listed before then. I have it all split up into 2 piles - 1 pile per week.

But you know what? I am burnt out. I don't feel like cleaning more shoes right now. I don't feel like counting game and puzzle pieces. I don't feel like taking and editing pictures. We spent yesterday afternoon and evening at the beach, just relaxing and doing nothing. Literally doing nothing. I sat in my chair and watched the kids swim. Today, I'm painting a bedroom. And I'm enjoying this mini-break!

Of course, I'm not talking about staying away from eBay completely over the next few weeks, but I have a lot of other projects that need tended to, so eBay will not be the main focus of my days for a few days. I have worked really hard to build my store up to about 800 listings (I was over that, but darn it - stuff keeps selling - haha). The beauty of a built-up inventory is that I don't feel pressure right now to get stuff listed. I can coast on those 800 listing for a few days.

Don't overwork yourself to the point of burn-out. That sucks the fun out of this "job" very easily. When you find that you just aren't enjoying it, give yourself a couple days off! Do a fun project, spend a special day with your family doing something you don't usually do. As at-home business owners, it's so easy to put more hours into this than we should. Just because you're home doesn't mean you have to answer questions the instant your inbox dings. Just because you're home doesn't mean you have to be listing or cleaning or taking pictures. It's great to be your own boss, but don't be a slave driver. Take the afternoon off and relax. Read a book. Watch a movie. Paint a bedroom.

You deserve it.

Fantastic Finds Friday

We want to hear all about your Fantastic Finds! This features isn't about your exciting sales. It's about your exciting finds! There are so many places to find inventory: your closet, your garage, a yard sale, thrift stores, a consignment item you're selling for someone else. What did you find this week that you are excited about? It can be something you're excited to get listed OR something you're excited to keep! You can even post to your listing, if you'd like. Free advertising!

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~Lesley

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I went to an auction last Friday night. Haven't been to one of them in a year and a half. There wasn't much there that I was interested in, but it was a benefit auction for a dear family friend, so I enjoyed being there with family and good friends. I did spot a hard bonnet salon-style hair dryer, but I figured it would go for more than I was willing to pay for it, especially considering I didn't have a chance to research it. Finally toward the end of the (6 hour) auction, it came up. The auctioneer chuckled and said, "ok, here we have a hair dryer" and would you believe no one wanted it??? So I got it for a DOLLAR! I haven't tested it yet, but it's complete and in its original box. I'll need to clean it up and take pictures, but it's the same as the one in this listing (mine is pink). That one is new, so of course I don't expect to get that amount out of it, but for a dollar, I should be able to turn a decent profit on it.

Oh - I also got a crockpot that I'm pretty sure was never used. We go through crockpots like some families go through paper towels, so I was pretty excited to get a back-up one for $2.25!

 ~Jessica

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What did you find this week? Anything exciting?

My Top eBay Moments This Week

This was another good week. I thought last week was a fluke, but it looks like sales are picking up for real! I had 42 sales over the last 7 days, 16 of which were shoes. Unbelievable as it sounds, NONE of them were cancellations, unpaid items, or returns! So I actually get to KEEP that money. What a novel concept.

Some of my favorites:

I LOVE this dress. It's Baby Gap, and it's velour. I wish it fit my 4 year old, but oh well. I sent it to France as part of an 8-piece shopping spree package. I paid $2.50 for it a month ago and sold it this week for my full asking price of $19.99.

Another quick sale. I paid $3.75 for this 2 quart Revere Ware saucepan in July. I accepted an offer for $20. That was my last piece of Revere Ware. I bought 3 pieces in July and they all sold very quickly. I'll definitely keep my eye open for more!

These were my sister-in-law's. She wore them twice and hated them. I decided to auction them during eBay's recent penny auction promotion. I started them at $34.99 and by the end of the week, I had 12 watchers. Despite that, they only got 2 bids and ended at $36.88. She was happy, because she paid less than that for them originally.

Johnston & Murphy is still a trial & error brand for me. I paid $2.99 for these in June. They sold this week for $50. I'll continue to pick this brand up, but I won't expect the $75+ that I was hoping for.

Danskos are NOT trial and error. I paid $7.90 for these bronze-colored sandals in July. I'm always willing to spend a little more on Danskos, because they sell pretty well and usually pretty quickly. These sold this week for my full asking price of $50.

And last but not least ... the Doc Marten anomaly continues... My sister-in-law picked these up for me last month for $10. That's a little more than I like to pay for Docs, but they are a sure profit, so it's not a real big deal. I had these listed for less than a week and sold them yesterday for my full asking price of $50. I'm sure I could have gotten a little more for them, but I'd rather get $50 within a week instead of $60 2 months down the road. Oh - and the anomaly part? These went to Australia. Big surprise.


**What were your favorite sales this week?

How I Get Stuff Done

In the comments from this morning's post on goal-setting, Christy asked if I have a set schedule for how I get things done. The short answer is no. But the short answer is never enough for me, so I'll elaborate!

As I stated in this morning's post, my goal is to reach 1000 listings in my store by the end of September. Christy wanted to know if I have a set number of items I list each day, or if I have a set number of times I shop. I'll address the shopping question first.

This past year, I took regular road trips. Once a month, I went to Harrisburg for the day. I dear friend watched my kids for the day while I shopped till I dropped! That was usually good for 50-75 new items. Also, twice a year, I drove to my sister-in-law's out near Philadelphia for the weekend. Same deal there. She watched the kids, I shopped. Because it's a bigger city, and because it was a long trip, I came home with over 100 new items each time. On a lesser scale, I try to hit the local Goodwill at least once a week, usually while I'm out running other errands or waiting for a guitar or gymnastics lesson to finish up. My Goodwill is pretty small, so each stop is only good for 5 new items at the most.

Now ... about listing ... I am currently trudging through what was 150 pairs of shoes a month ago. Every 2 or 3 days, I grab my Rubbermaid bin and fill it up with however many shoes will fit. Then I spend that morning cleaning and polishing them, that evening taking and editing pics. Then I spend the next early morning listing them all. I do NOT set goals for myself like, "I will list 10 items per day." I'm realistic. I'm a homeschooling mom of 4. I know there will probably be more days than not that I will NOT reach that goal. I have been keeping all of my unlisted inventory in the living room. I think it probably drives my family crazy, but it's right there in front of me all the time, instead of tucked away somewhere. Out of sight, out of mind. This strategy keeps me focused on getting it listed and put away - out of the way!

If you have a less busy life, or fewer items to work through, I would suggest setting a daily number-of-listings goal. If your lifestyle won't allow that, then that's ok! You don't want to set impossible goals for yourself, or you'll get easily discouraged and frustrated with yourself for not reaching your goals.

Start small. Aim for 2 new listings a day. Once you've got that under your belt, aim for 5 a day. Keep increasing it, as long as it's still doable and not interfering with other aspects of your life.

Or another strategy ... fill a box and set a deadline for when it needs done. For example, I will get this box prepped and listed by Thursday.

I've rambled on plenty here. I guess my point is that there are as many different strategies as there are sellers. You'll have to try a couple different goal-setting methods until you find what works best for you. Good luck!

Setting Goals For Your Online Business

If you are running an online business, it's a good idea to set some goals for yourself. You need to have something to focus on, rather than just the attitude that whatever happens, happens. When I first started selling on eBay 2 years ago, my goal was to net a whopping $10 a day. It was a real struggle, and it took a long time to reach that goal, but I kept focused on listing, and eventually I reached it.

For the past 6 months, my goal has been significantly higher than that. In May, I got the closest I had ever been (only $90 short). June stunk (as it did for most of us, I'm pretty sure). But then in July, I met my goal a week before the end of the month, and then had an amazing last week and ended the month at 1.5 times my goal!! I stayed focused on my listing and was determined - and it paid off in a big way!

For August, I chose to aim for somewhere in between my original goal and the crazy high number I hit in July. Again, I stayed focused on my listing and excellent customer service, and again, I am right on track to hit the crazy high number again! If I hit that number 3 months in a row, I'll raise it just a little bit and we'll see what happens.

But financial goals aren't the only goals that are important. I am currently working toward my goal of 1000 listings in my store. I am at a little under 800 right now. I was at about 825 last week, but I didn't have any time to list over the weekend. I'm pretty sure I have enough stuff right now to get me to my goal. Once I hit 700 listings, my sales took off! So I am extremely focused on hitting 1000, because if business boomed mid-summer at 700 listings, I can only imagine fall/holiday business at 1000 listings!

Hey! I think I'll have a giveaway here once I've hit 1000! I'm hoping to reach that goal before we start school on September 6. I need you all to help keep me focused so I can reach my goal on time. I don't know what the giveaway will be. Probably a pair of shoes, since that's who I am and what I do. I'll do a new giveaway post once I hit that point, but thought I'd mention it here for a little extra incentive.

Come join us on our proboards group and let us know what your sales goals are for this week!

 

Update on my New Pricing Strategy

A couple weeks ago, I wrote that I was in the process of changing my pricing strategy. It's only been 2 weeks, but I've seen such great results that I wanted to share! Since writing that post, I have sold 31 pairs of shoes! In 2 weeks! I am sold, folks. All but one or two of those shoe sales were either new fixed price listings or old, revamped, changed-to-fixed-price listings. Let me tell you ... it was SO nice not having ridiculous offers coming in all week long. When I got an email from eBay, it was for a SOLD item!

I'm not having quite as much luck with my kids' clothes, but I did notice a bit of an increase. I may need to play around with the pricing still. I am changing all of my Gymboree over to 1/3 of retail, fixed price, plus shipping. I did have it all at a hair over half of retail, plus $3 added in for shipping, best offer, free shipping. I wasn't selling much at all, and I was getting a lot of very low offers. As the back to school season continues to pick up, I hope to sell more of it. But I am coming to the realization that 2004 styles are too old. These Gymbo moms want their girls to be trendy. 2004 isn't trendy anymore, apparently :(  I will continue to work on getting that older stuff out of here though.

Also, in light of the ridiculous number of unpaid item cases I've gotten lately (from accepting best offers), I am seriously considering lowering my prices and getting rid of the Best Offer option. It has been SO nice not dealing with many offers this week. I'm being lured quite strongly ... I'll let you know what I decide.

Fantastic Finds Friday

We want to hear all about your Fantastic Finds! This features isn't about your exciting sales. It's about your exciting finds! There are so many places to find inventory: your closet, your garage, a yard sale, thrift stores, a consignment item you're selling for someone else. What did you find this week that you are excited about? It can be something you're excited to get listed OR something you're excited to keep! You can even post to your listing, if you'd like. Free advertising!




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This summer is flying by and I'm happy to report I'm spending more time enjoying it than eBaying.  Therefore, not a lot of shopping time in but I did manage to find a few noteworthy things this week... well hubby found one and I found the other.  I'll start with him:

He found a pair of Allen Edmunds mens shoes.  He had bought and sold a pair just last month for around $225 if I remember correctly.  These are well made and highly sought after shoes.

Me: I got my hands on some My Little Pony stuff. I've got the Crystal Rainbow Castle with a ton of extra pony's. The prices were a little all over the map on eBay so I decided to list on Amazon. I've had great success selling toys for higher rate on Amazon. This toy isn't in production anymore so I'm willing to sit on it for a little while until just the right buyer comes along...I imagine right around Christmast time! :)

~Lesley

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I'm still holding (kinda) fast to my shopping diet. I am intent on getting this ridiculous mountain of shoes listed. I've listed over a hundred pairs of shoes in the past week and still have about that many more to go. But I did need to take the kids clothes shopping this week. Naturally, our first stop was Goodwill. I got almost everything on our list, so I felt I deserved a little spin around the store for myself. :D I found 2 pairs of shoes (surprise, surprise). My 8 year old found me a Fisher Price tape player. I already have the same one listed, so once I test this one, I'll just change the quantity on that listing. My 11 year old found me a nice puffy girls Rothschild winter coat. I already have the same coat in a smaller size, but I haven't listed it yet. Now's the time to get those winter coats posted! Once I do, I'll be able to do a multi-variation listing for those. I love easy listings!

~Jessica

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What did you find this week? Anything exciting?

My Top eBay Moments This Week

This week was a little slower than last week as far as number of sales, but I had a higher average sales price, so financially, it was still a good week. I had 24 sales over the past week, 11 of which were shoes. One cancelled, and I am still waiting for 3 others to pay. I had 2 unpaid item cases close and another 2 open. So frustrating! I'm strongly leaning toward doing away with Best Offer altogether and requiring immediate payment on everything. Ugh! But, moving on ...

This week's highlights:

Of course there were these beauties. I already wrote about them here. I paid $3.90 for them in May, finally listed them this week and sold them for $25 just a couple hours after listing them!

I sold one of these for $24 back in January (5 days after listing it), so I was happy to find another for $3.99 in June. It sat a little longer, but I finally sold it this week for my full asking price of $29.99 to a buyer in Switzerland. I do love my international buyers!

Speaking of international buyers, I had both pairs of these Josef Seibels listed in a multi-variation listing. Same style, same size, just different colors. 5 days after listing, a Canadian buyer sent me a message that she wanted both pairs and was looking for a combined shipping rate. I was happy to oblige! She bought and paid for them the same day, but then asked me to lie on the customs form! I told her I couldn't do that, she understood, and we continued the transaction. I paid $3 for one pair and $4 for the other at a Goodwill in Virginia last week. Sold for $35 each!

This week was full of fast sales! I've had these laying around since May and just got around to listing them 2 days ago. (Hey - what can I say? I have a severe backlog, but I'm working on it...) They sold the next day for $40. I did pay a little more for these than I usually do ($10.90) and I'm sure I could have gotten a few dollars more for them, but I'm always happy with a fast and fairly high sale!

This one wasn't a fast sale, but it was my favorite. Technically, they sold on July 20th, but I didn't mention it at the time because I hadn't gotten paid yet. These were an Amazon gold box deal of the day back in October. I bought 3 pairs for $89.07 and immediately sold a pair to a buyer in Greece for my full asking price of $97.99! So that paid for the purchase of all three pairs. But then the other 2 pairs just sat there, no questions, no offers, nothing. I was recently contemplating lowering my price a bit, but in July I got a message from a buyer in the Czech Republic who wanted both my last 2 pairs if she could pay on August 10. I told her sure, but I didn't expect to actually see that money. Well lo and behold, guess what I woke up to this morning?  I paid $89.07 for all 3 pairs and sold them all for $293.97 total!

What were your favorites this week?

Ugly Sells!

Back in May, my sister-in-law delivered a couple tubs of shoes to me that she had picked up over the previous weeks. Mostly, she sticks to my list, but every now and then, she ventures out on her own and tries a new brand. She gave me a pair that had me rolling on the floor with laughter because they were so hideous!!  I said, "Who in the world is ever going to buy those???"  She laughed and said, "I don't know. I think they're probably just ugly enough to be a really good seller!" 

So I tossed them on my to-be-listed shelf and forgot about them for 3 months. Yesterday, they ended up in the day's listing bin. I pulled them out and laughed again. I did a search for them and saw that they have a 0% sell through rate (even in New condition), but I listed them anyway. Well guess what ... they sold after only a couple of hours. I suppose the size helped (they are 11 wide), but it's just more proof that ugly sells.

Check out these other ugly listings (obviously "ugly" is subjective, so I apologize if you like any of these):

Now of course, these are all top-name fashion designers, which makes them expensive AND ugly. But my point is ... don't pass over something just because it's ugly. It just might be ugly enough to sell well!

Dealing with Unpaid Items

Ugh. I have my eBay items all set to require immediate payment, but when I accept an offer on an item, I cannot require immediate payment. As my sales increase, my unpaid item cases are increasing. I have had a ridiculously high number of unpaid item cases over the past two weeks. When I make a sale, I count on actually getting that money. (Silly me!) When I never see the money, it's extremely frustrating. 

It's bad enough that I have to deal with the unpaid item cases. What would be even worse is if I actually had to devote TIME to dealing with them. Did you know you can set your eBay preferences to deal with UPI's automatically? Follow these steps to set up the Unpaid Item Assistant:

• My eBay
• Account Tab
• Site Preferences
• At the bottom of the Selling Preferences section, find Unpaid Item Assistant
• All the way to the right, click on Show
• Click on Edit

In this section, you can choose how you want your UPI assistant to operate. My Terms of Service indicate that I expect payment within 3 days, so I have my UPI Assistant set to open a case after 4 days. I also like to be notified when a case is opened or closed, so I have those options set to Real-Time. I also have eBay automatically relist the item once the case closes.

Using these settings, I don't have to do a thing. I do send out a second invoice on day 3, just to be nice, but really - I don't even HAVE to do that. Ebay sends them a payment reminder anyway.

So while it's nice to be hands-off during this process, it's still extremely frustrating. The only other thing I could do to totally prevent UPI cases would be to remove Best Offer from all my listings and check Immediate Payment Required. I am slowly moving in that direction. I have removed the Best Offer option from most of my shoe listings (and am working on editing the rest to remove it from them as wel), and I am working on removing Best Offer from most of my children's clothing listings. But there are always going to be items that I'm just not exactly sure about pricing, so I'll need to keep Best Offer on some stuff.  But I'm hoping that making these changes will drastically cut down on the number of UPI cases I have to open.

Oh - if you have a buyer who has contacted you to let you know they'll be able to pay next payday and you are ok with that, you CAN turn off the UPI assistant for just that transaction! You don't want a case opening against a buyer that's actually communicating. To turn the assistant off, go into your sold items and find the item. Then click on the menu on the right and choose Turn Unpaid Item Assistant Off. From there, eBay will give you a warning message. Just click on Yes (or OK or Submit or Agree or whatever it is) and that will turn the UPI assistant off for that one transaction, which will give your buyer extra time to pay.

How about you? How do you deal with non-payers?

Fantastic Finds Friday

We want to hear all about your Fantastic Finds! This features isn't about your exciting sales. It's about your exciting finds! There are so many places to find inventory: your closet, your garage, a yard sale, thrift stores, a consignment item you're selling for someone else. What did you find this week that you are excited about? It can be something you're excited to get listed OR something you're excited to keep! You can even post to your listing, if you'd like. Free advertising!

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~Lesley

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I took an impromptu trip to Virginia this week, and while I was there, my aunt wanted to take me shopping. Who am I to say no to that?? Her goal was to find at least 1 pair of Clarks before I did - and she managed to success! She was so proud of herself. haha!  I didn't find much of interest, just my ordinary staples. 2 microwave turntables and a set of Fire King mugs. Also got 18 pairs of shoes. I picked up my first pair of women's Farragamos. I don't know how they'll do, but they are in like new condition, so I'm sure I'll be able to recover my $6.99 pretty easily ;-)    ALSO! My find of the week ... when I was at Lesley's a couple weeks ago, her husband was telling me all about finding a couple pair of Allen Edmonds, and how when he found them, his hands started to shake and he was so excited! Well ... guess what I found??? Yup. Allen Edmonds. They aren't in as good of condition as Tom's were, but I'm confident I'll be able to get at least $100 out of them. Hooray for random road trips!
~Jessica

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What did you find this week? Anything exciting?

My Top eBay Moments This Week

I missed getting this post up yesterday. I was gallavanting about Virginia and didn't even give it a thought.

I had 46 sales in the past week! It was an amazing week! I think I've been really lucky - it seems like my summer slump came to an end early. I got 1 return and 2 unpaid item cases. Seems like I'm having to open a lot of them lately, but I guess that comes with the territory of selling more.

I had some great sales this week, and I had a really hard time narrowing it down to my favorites, but here they are:

2 weeks ago, I sold a large plush Fievel for a crazy amount. This week, I sold the comforter. It was in awful condition (pilled, faded, stuffing balled up in the corners, a small tear), but I wasn't able to find any of them ANYWHERE, so I mentioned all of that in my description and listed it crazy high with a best offer. This buyer and I communicated back several times over the course of a week or so before s/he finally made an offer I accepted. I paid $2 for it at a yard sale in June, and took an offer for $50! Even got feedback already: "Excellent product. Great seller. A+++++"

This one makes me laugh. I imagine the kind wife who bought this to make for her husband to hang up in his man cave. I assured my husband that I won't be making him provocative woman latch hook rugs for his mancave, and I think he was ok with that. I paid $1 for it at a yard sale in June and sold it for my full asking price of $39.99 + shipping.

When I was road tripping at my sister-in-law's in July, I deliberately passed over these Keens, because they just looked a little too worn to me. While I was in a different part of town on day 2 of my trip, she and my oldest went out shopping and thought I had missed them, so she bought them for me. I had to laugh when they sold within 2 days. I paid $4.90 for them and sold them for $30.

I think I blogged about this game when I first bought it for $3 at a yard sale back in July. I had a few watchers in the early days, but no offers. I listed it for $49.99obo. I had a prospective buyer ask me to give him a detailed description of the condition of all the pieces, which I did of course. He thanked me and told me he wanted one in near mint condition, but in the meantime, mine would do. So he offered me
$40 and I promptly accepted. It was a bugger to ship though - that box was BIG!

This was another fast sale. I paid $3.75 for it in July and sold it within a week of listing, for my full asking price of $39.99. I LOVE finding Revere Ware!

Not to be outdone by the skillet, my stockpot sold the same day to a different buyer. Paid $6.90, accepted a $49 offer. Yay!

What were your favorite sales this week?