My Top eBay Moments This Week

I had a pretty decent week. Sales just weren't as high as I was hoping for the week before Christmas, but I mostly sell used shoes, which just isn't very high up many people's wish lists, I guess. Sales were steady, so I shan't complain.

I sold 57 items, 10 of which were shoes. I did sell a lot of interesting items, rather than just the boring old shoes, clothes, and books. So it was fun packaging up a wider variety of stuff this week. It is amazing to me how many of my sales this week were of items that I had either JUST listed or that I had recently ended and listed as a "Sell Similar" item.

I don't recall that I had any problem buyers this week. I lucked out and haven't had any irate "Where Is My Item" customers (I got to be one of those myself this morning! And believe me - I was irate! But that's a whole different story ...). Anyway, I did get myself another Neutral feedback this week. Someone was disappointed in the condition of their game box. I might have had that one coming. I was pretty vague in my description about the condition of the box....

So here are my favorites - I had a lot of fun sales this week, so it's a long list!

I got this for Christmas when I was a little girl. Nearly a year ago, I decided to purge our massive stuffed animal collection. I thought this one would go fairly quickly, but apparently not. I sold it this week. Four days after I shipped it, I got a message from the buyer that she wanted to cancel this order, because she didn't realize she had actually gone all the way through the purchasing process. Really? The 2 times that you had to confirm your purchase, and logging in to Paypal, and logging in to eBay to confirm your payment, and the 2 emails you got from eBay and the email you got from Paypal, and then the shipping confirmation email you got from me weren't enough of a clue?? So I wrote her and said, "This shipped several days ago and tracking shows that it was delivered yesterday. Did you receive it?" She wrote back, very apologetic. She ordered mine first, then accidentally ordered a second one and intended to cancel the second one. She was very happy with mine and was excited to give it to her granddaughter for Christmas. That made me smile, to know that it was going to another little girl for Christmas 25 years after *I* had gotten it for Christmas. Happy ending!

• Acquired: 1987?
• Listed: 2010
• Sold on: 12/15
• Paid: $0
• Sold for: $16.99 + shipping

Remember this story? Those shoes FINALLY sold. No, I didn't get $35.99 for them, but I knew I wouldn't right from the start. That's what the Best Offer button is all about. I did ultimately end up clearancing them and offering free shipping, but the woman who bought these also bought them with another pair of shoes, and both pairs fit in a Regional Box A, so I was able to ship both pairs for around $8. This was a mistake purchase for more than one reason. First of all, I would never buy such dirty shoes now, and I am finding that canvas Clarks just don't sell well. I think I was lucky to break even on them.

• Acquired: 12/4/2010
• Listed: 12/?/2010
• Sold on: 12/18/2011
• Paid: $3.00
• Sold for: $20.00 - shipping

This was in a bin of Care Bears my sister-in-law bought for me in November. She only paid a dime for it, and I was glad, because she's in pretty worn condition. But I optimistically listed her for $21.99 with free shipping and to my surprise, she sold quite quickly! Paula - I owe you an apology! lol

• Acquired: 11/26/2011
• Listed: 11/27/2011
• Sold on: 12/17
• Paid: 10 cents
• Sold for: $21.99 - $2.09 shipping

I feel like I have had this stinkin' thing forEVER, but I see I just listed it in July. On December 15, I ended the listing and clicked on "Sell Similar."  Sell Similar is better than Relisting, because that tells eBay's search engines that it's a new item, so it gets moved up in search results. I saw the proof of this time and time again this week. I relisted on 12/15, sold on 12/21. Paid 14 cents, Sold for $24.00 (-$5.45 shipping).

• Acquired: 7/16/2011
• Listed: 7/??/2011
• Sold on: 12/21/2011
• Paid: 14 cents
• Sold for: $24.00 - $5.45 shipping

I bought this intending to set it aside until I had collected several Blues' Clues toys to list as a lot. I'm in desperate listing mode right now though, and I didn't want to wait, so I decided to list it and see what happened. This was another very quick seller!

• Acquired: 11/26/2011
• Listed on: 12/20/2011
• Sold on: 12/22/2011
• Paid: $2.11
• Sold for: $24.99 - $5.00 shipping

I've had this one for awhile too. It's a vintage Hoover hair dryer and nail dryer. I know production companies often buy this soft of thing for in movies, so I was optimistic. I priced it high ($49.99 or best offer), but I never got any offers, no watchers, and not very many hits. In October, I ended the listing and did a Sell Similar listing, dropping the price and removing the best offer option. Finally sold it this week! I have a few other similar ones that I just listed this week, so I'm hoping they move a lot more quickly than this first one did.

• Acquired: 5/31/2011
• Listed (Sell Similar) on: 10/18/2011
• Sold on: 12/18/2011
• Paid: $6.35
• Sold for: $25.00 + shipping

I bought this during an evening of very distracted shopping. My brother's girlfriend was with me, and she and I chattered the whole way through the store. Honestly, I got home and started pulling stuff out of my bag that I didn't even remember picking up! I looked at this and thought, "Why on earth did I buy this?? And why did I pay $3 for it?!"  And then I tossed it into my to-be-listed bin and forgot about it. Again, desperate listing mode led me to drag it out and clean it up and get it listed. Imagine my surprise when it sold for my full asking price overnight!! And mine was the most expensive one of this particular model that was listed. I don't understand that, but who am I to question??

• Acquired: 11/8/2011
• Listed: 12/19/2011
• Sold: 12/20/2011
• Paid: $3.17
• Sold: $27.99 - $4.90 shipping

My sister-in-law recently gave us a whole bunch of bags of clothes. She specifically said to keep what we wanted and to sell the rest. Knowing that we have a whole closet stuffed full of winter coats for our kids to grow into, I decided to sell this. It's a 2-part convertible Reebok coat. It has a lighter fleece jacket that you can zip into it for a heavier coat, or you can wear either part separately. It's a really really nice coat. I listed it for $39.99 or best offer and got a good offer not too long after I listed it. I shipped it out, and then a couple days ago, I realized my 8 year old's winter coat is too small for him now, so I headed into the closet, and to my horror, I discovered that we actually do NOT have a coat for him! So I guess I'll take the money from this sale and buy him a new one. Oops!

• Acquired: 11/26/2011
• Listed: 12/3/2011
• Sold: 12/18/2011
• Paid: $0
• Sold for: $29.99 - $7.83 shipping

I read long ago that Polaroid cameras sell really well, so I bought up several of them the next time I was out. And there they sat, NOT selling. I had just given up on them when they all sold within a few weeks of each other, all for my full asking price of $39.99 + shipping. Needless to say, I continue to buy Polaroids. I was lucky enough to buy one once with a used-up film cartridge in it that I've been able to use to test the cameras, so I think being able to say that they were tested and they work has really helped to sell them.

• Acquired: 11/23/2011
• Listed: 12/18/2011
• Sold: 12/19/2011
• Paid: $2.11
• Sold for: $30.00 + shipping

This one was crazy! I listed it the other night, and literally 3 minutes later, I got an offer on it! Because it took me so long to sell my Hoover one, I decided to go ahead and accept the offer on this one.

• Acquired: 10/1/2011
• Listed: 12/20/2011
• Sold: 12/20/2011
• Paid: $2.11
• Sold for: $30.00 + shipping (although they haven't paid yet)

Another crazy quick sale. I'm telling you, this week was amazing for quick flips! This was ours. Yes, we have an antenna. And an old, old tv. But we recently got basic cable, so we don't need our digital converter box anymore. We originally bought it with a voucher and got it for free, but I thought I'd list it and see if we could get a few bucks out of it. Again ... imagine my surprise when it sold 2 hours after listing it!

• Acquired: 2008?
• Listed: 12/20/2011
• Sold: 12/20/2011
• Paid: $0
• Sold: $32.99 - $4.70 shipping (it fit perfectly into a small box in a flat rate envelope!)

I am STILL laughing at this sale! My daughter bought this for my son several years ago for his birthday. I think she paid about $12 for it at Walmart. It's not like it's a vintage item. When his Hot Wheels collection outgrew this holder, I put it in our yard sale with a $3 price tag on it. No one showed any interest in it at all. I recently went through our unsold yard sale items and pulled out a few things that I thought I'd give one last chance to on eBay. This was one of them. I figured I'd list it for $9.99 and hope for the best. As I started researching it, the first listing that came up was for $35+. I laughed at that seller for thinking they'd get that much. But the more I researched, the more I was amazed at what these things are actually selling for!! Most are going for $35-40 at auction, so I decided to price mine just under the highest auction listing and hoped to catch someone who missed winning the auction. It sold 2 days after I listed it, so my plan worked!

• Acquired: 2007?
• Listed: 12/18/2011
• Sold: 12/20/2011
• Paid: $12?
• Sold for: $39.99 (-$4.90 shipping)

I haven't sold much lately from the big yard sale I went to in September, so I was pleased with this sale. I bought this coat the first day of the sale, so it was NOT half off. I did pay too much for it, but that's ok. I had a buyer make me a too-low offer, so we counter-offered back and forth several times. I could have held out for $10 more in the spring, but I decided it wasn't worth it to hold it for 4 months for just $10 more, so I finally took her offer.

• Acquired: 9/2/2011
• Listed: 9/9/2011
• Sold: 12/16/2011
• Paid: $16.00
• Sold for: $50.00 + shipping

And to add to my son's delight about the money he'll get for his Hot Wheels car, he also had a box set of Magic School Bus books that he asked me to sell for him. I checked eBay, and that particular set wasn't even selling for $8.99, so I opted to list that on Amazon. I like to list on Amazon, because you can list it and forget about it. And forget about it I did. Until I woke up to an email this morning that his set had sold ... for $39.99!! So my son has had a remarkable sales week this week too!

Thanks for sticking with me through that epic post... How was your week?