My Top eBay Moments This Week

Last week, I mentioned that I didn't have any deadbeat buyers, and it was so refreshing. I wish I had savored that at the time... I also mentioned last week that I had 3 pending returns. Only 1 actually returned the item! Yay! Apparently the other two were put off by my restocking fee and decided to keep the items. One left me positive feedback, and I would prefer if the other just kept quiet. She's trouble waiting to happen, so I'll not be contacting her for feedback or to find out what happened with the return.

I did have 2 problem buyers this week. One says that his/her ivory shoe cream is "too thin and doesn't cover the scuffs on my ivory leather shoes. Please send me a thicker product."  uhh... The product is what it is. I don't have thick and thin versions. I explained that and offered to accept a return, but he/she decided it wasn't worth the trouble and expense of returning. Also said that they would be leaving me a neutral "for the product," but I never got any feedback from them at all. Phew.

The other buyer lives less than an hour from me. She offered me $10 + $2.50 shipping for a Care Bear. I accepted and shipped it out. She write me and said, "I just got the bear. I don't think it cost you $2.50 to ship it from so nearby. If I return it, will you be keeping a $2 restocking fee?" (I do have a 20% restocking fee on returns that aren't my fault.) I replied that it actually cost me $2.09 plus the cost of my packing materials and labels, and yes I charge a 20% restocking fee. Is there something wrong with the bear that you wish to return it? She said, "I guess it's my fault. I didn't read the description. I just saw the bear and bought it. I was expecting full size." (It was 10")  I replied that the measurements are in the title and description, but she could return it if she wanted, and her refund would be $8. She replied that after she paid to ship it back, she'd be down to $6, which is half of what she paid. Um, yep. Read the description next time, lady. So she asked me yesterday to just give her a $5 refund. haha. No. So we'll see where this goes...

Anyway... I had 54 sales this week, only 7 of which were shoes. I have a road trip planned for next Thursday, so hopefully I can get my shoe inventory back up a bit. The highlights:

I sold this for my mom. She had it in our yard sale this summer for $5. No one bought it, so I offered to try to sell it on eBay for a few bucks. I was pretty surprised to see that they were listed for a high price, so I priced this at $21.99 with free shipping. It sold! And I was able to fit it into a box in a flat rate priority envelope, so shipping was only $4.90!

I'm having a grand time with the things I bought at this yard sale! These Pittsburgh Steelers medical scrubs pants (new with tags) were from there. I bought 4 pairs for $3 each and already sold one pair for $21.99.

I bought this about a year ago, because I remembered my brother having one when we were little. Turns out his was the red LED display, not the grey and black display that this one has. I decided to keep it and let the kids use it for math review. Well, with most new things like this, they were excited about it for about a month. I just found it in the back of our math manipulatives drawer and decided to list it. It sold the next day for my full asking price of $24.99! I had listed it with free US shipping, but it sold internationally, so I didn't even have to pay the shipping :)

Remember when I bought 6 pieces of Revere Ware at this yard sale? I paid $40 for all of it and immediately sold the large skillet for $40, so the rest is straight up profit. I sold this 2 quart saucepan and lid for $29.99 with free shipping. I lucked out, because the buyer was in my shipping zone, so it only cost me $5 to ship.

I love selling Clairol Kindness Deluxe 3-Way Hairsetters. This is the 3rd or 4th one I sold, and it was no exception. This was the very first hot roller set I sold. It was back before I knew that BIN listings were the way to go. I auctioned it and it went for $51! I haven't sold any that high since. They usually go for $30-35. I paid $6.25 for this one and sold it for $30.

This Columbia fleece pullover was from the same yard sale where I got the Steelers scrubs pants. I had 2 of the exact same pullover, both new with tags. I paid $5.50 each. I listed them for $30.99, free shipping. I sold them both to the same buyer! And that buyer was international, so yet again - I didn't have to pay shipping :)

I bought these without looking them up. I had no idea, but they were pretty, so I thought surely I'd do ok with them. I paid $5 for them, and as soon as my sister-in-law saw them, she wanted them. Her husband seemed to feel that she already had enough stuff laying around their house :) so I told her that if I still had them at Christmastime, they were all hers. Well ... it was looking good for her until this week. They sold for $45 (sorry, Paula!)

One last sale from the scrubs and Columbia yard sale. I paid $9 for this new with tags men's Timberland coat. I accepted an offer of $62.99 + shipping to Canada. Yay!

I bought 120 items at that yard sale, all new with tags. I paid a total of $717.75 for it all (I know - it stung at the time...). So far, in 13 days, I have sold 21 of the items for a whopping $532.61!! So I have 99 items left to sell, and I'm only $180 away from fully recovering my investment!

The lesson? Yes, $700+ was a huge, scary investment for me. That was a big fat check, and I was literally sick to my stomach about it. What if I had made a huge mistake? And where on earth am I going to store all this stuff? And how am I going to get it all listed?? Panic, panic, panic. But ... I don't even have it all listed yet and I'm doing quite well with it. Sometimes you just have to jump. You'll land on both feet ... eventually :)