Yard Sale Tricks

Well I think the trickiest part of yard saling is getting out of bed. There are some mornings that I’m not sure if I will make it. But then my Princess shows up and asks me “Mommy awake?” which means no more being lazy for me.

Most of my eBay “stock” comes from yard sales. I get the more bang for my buck there. Thrift stores around me are outrageously priced. Jeans are $6-10. Mens dress shirts $6-8. The local Salvation Army stopped their $1.00 Saturday special and the Goodwill only offers a 25% discount on certain color items each week instead of the 50% they used to offer. Unfortunately that only gives me one scouting day per week, Saturday. I work Fridays and sometimes I try to fit a couple sales in on my lunch time but that’s going to end next week when my Princess starts preschool. I will be taking her to school during my lunch every day. Sundays have actually been pretty successful yard sales trips for me in the past but dating a guy that lives 2 hours away makes it difficult for me. Sunday morning I am heading out to visit him (or he’s coming out to see me in which case I sneak in a few before he gets into town). So I have to use anything I can to make sure I get the most out of my Saturday sales.

When I first starting selling on eBay I would take the kids yard saling with me one of them would always shout from across the lawn “Hey Auntie do you want this for eBay?” or something along those lines. So I had to quickly come up with a code. Now instead of yelling about eBay they yell “Auntie do you think Grandma will like this?”. Grandma of course being code for eBay. This has worked out really well for us. But I do get some strange looks sometimes from people wondering why Grandma would want a box of action figures.

I am far from the expert on what sells well on eBay so when I’m not sure if “grandma” would like something I say out loud ‘Oh I’m not sure let me text her”. This is my way of pulling out my phone and looking the item up on eBay without being too obvious. I hear all the time “Do you know what this is going for on eBay” and I don’t want people giving me a higher price if they think I’m going to be selling their stuff there. (By the way don’t get me started on people that over price things because they are selling for a certain amount on eBay. If you want to get eBay prices then go sell them on there not a yard sale).

Recently I’ve been using a new “trick”. I take my 3 year old Princess with me yard saling. She of course always finds the toy stack at every sale. When I see something I think might sell well I ask her “Baby do you like this?”. Of course her answer is always yes (she likes everything for about 10 seconds and then moves on). So I send her to the sellers to ask “How much please?”. Who can over charge a sweet little Princess who also happens to be polite? About a quarter of the time they end up giving it to her for free. When they do charge they usually give it to her for much less then I would have gotten it for. I know this is sneaky but I go with what works. I just need to teach my baby to haggle a price and she will really be my secret weapon.

Now if anyone has any tricks that work for them please share! I need all the help I can get.

You Need To Spend Money To Make Money

Unfortunately the saying is true. Most of my inventory comes from yard sales and I will admit I’m cheap. I rarely spend more then $1.00 on an item. I don’t have a lot of knowledge on what to buy and what sells so I would rather not pay out a lot of money and risk having to donate it again. But as I look over at a sea of knick knacks and items I always wonder how many treasures I am leaving behind.

This weekend I was yard saling with my honey (his choice I didn’t drag him with me) and he asked an owner “How much is that fishing pole rack?”. It was only $3.00. He paid the nice lady and off he went with his newly purchased rack. I walked past that rack at least 3 times and didn’t have a clue what it was. Even if I did I don’t know if I would have paid $3.00 for it. But I looked on eBay and found one just like it here that sold for $64.50 plus shipping. Not a bad return on $3.00. He of course is keeping his because he decided we (I don’t know how I got included in this we) need to get outdoors more.

I could say that I can go with my gut feeling on what to buy but my gut isn’t very knowledgeable either. But when it does have a feeling it is usually a good one. A few weeks ago I went to the Salvation Army and they were selling small totes full of toys. They had Barbie furniture, clothing, accessories, dolls, and lots of other items inside. But each tote was $7.50. I must have put them in my cart and taken them out again about half a dozen times. Did I want to spend $30.00 on four totes? No. But my gut was telling me “Do it” so I did. And my gut didn’t let me down. To date I have sold $170.00 worth of items. I still have items listed that haven’t sold yet and other items yet to list. I am expecting to sell all my items for at least $300.00.

This weekend I had the same dilemma. I went to a yard sale where they were selling new in box toys. I got a stack together of about 10 toys. I asked the owner how much for the stack and she told me $40.00. Logically I knew that I could make that back by selling just one or two of the toys which would make all the rest profit. But I didn’t want to have to give her most of my yard sale budget for the day (yes I was pouting a little). And she wouldn’t go any lower in price. I did finally hand over the money. I am actually thinking of trying my hand with Amazon with these toys. I am a little scared to try something new but I might just jump in. Wish me luck.

So I am going to admit that the past couple weeks I haven’t listed. I’m not going to make excuses. I’ve just been lazy. And my sales have reflected this. But I have a cruise to finish paying and I need money so I am setting a goal of listing 5 items per day this week. I listed 5 yesterday so I am starting the week off right.

Yard Sale Finds

I went to so many yard sales this morning I lost count. There was a community sale that one of my co-workers called me about this morning (everyone knows I love yard sales and I sell on eBay. I'm not shy about it). I packed everyone in the car (mom, nephew and Princess) and off we went. There must have been about 15-20 in this one neighborhood. But we must have gotten there too late because pickings were slim. I was able to purchase about a dozen character plush for a quarter each. Even if I only make a few dollars on them I don't mind. They were cheap and plush is so easy to list and mail. My only other purchase were 4 vintage dolls.

Here is one of them. He is a Barbie MOD Talking Brad Doll. He doesn't talk, he wasn't in great condition and he didn't have his original clothes. The same doll with original clothes sold recently for $35 so I figured I would list him for $20. Apparently that was a great price because he sold in less then a minute. You read that right. Less then a minute. He's on his way to Oregon now. Bye Brad. I still have to research the other dolls I bought. Hopefully they will be a fast turn around too.

After the neighborhood yard sales we stopped to get a bite to eat before heading to another part of town. My phone rang and I knew I should have ignored it. It was work. They needed me to come in. I hate when responsibility interrupts my play time. So after finishing our food we head home. On the way there we stopped at one more garage sale. And boy am I happy we did. Look what I found:

Little Einsteins Pat Pat Rocket complete with all 4 figures. I've only found one before. It sold for $55 but it only had one figure. I'm hoping this one sells quickly for a good amount. I have my fingers crossed.

I hope everyone else had a successful shopping weekend.

Sick As A ...Dog

I spent all last week sick as a “dog”. I can’t figure out who I caught my illness from. No one around me was sick except for my doggies. I kept looking at the accusingly but I’m pretty sure I didn’t get it from them.

To make matters worse not only was I sick but I was crazy busy. So eBay got put on the back burner and I only listed 3 items all week. My sales definitely reflected this. $82.00 for the whole entire week. But sometimes life happens. Like Monday I went to see my Uncle in the hospital, Tues I listed my only 3 items, Weds I had my concurrent parents cluster group, Thurs my illness kept me in bed most of the day (I only got up long enough to have the Parents As Teachers meeting), Friday we took the kids to the movies, Saturday I had a date, and Sunday I was too burnt out to think. I’m ok with a slow week because to be honest I didn’t even have much energy to mail things. And with eBay’s new one day shipping requirements I would have been in hot water. I am actually looking at this slow week as a good thing.

I did manage to squeeze in some yard saling. I didn’t find anything too exciting. I bought a bunch more plush. Nothing that’s going to make me a huge profit but I only paid a quarter or two per item so that’s ok. Plush are becoming my favorite things to sell because I can pick them up so cheap and are easy to list and mail. I also picked up some men’s shirts, a couple of long jean skirts I keep hearing are good sellers, a couple pairs of jeans, and this:

Remember these old floppy disks. I’m still not sure why I bought them except for the fact that there were ten cents for a case of 38 and I had a gut feeling. I looked them up and found these that sold for $50.00 but they were new sealed in box and had all 40. I listed mine for much less and I’m crossing my fingers that they sell. Just to prove that my gut can still pick things out on its own without an eBay app. Wish me luck!

Goal Update and Yard Sale Finds

I made my goal of selling $300 in two weeks. Woohoo!!! I actually sold $318.00. I will be honest though. My second goal of listing 5 items per day didn’t go so well. Last week I only listed 10 items. Oops. I was sick with the flu and not very motivated. I’m just happy that I was able to reach my goal without listing daily. But just imagine how much I would have made if I did list daily. OK lets not think about that cuz then I will get sad. Tonight I am going home and listing. Promise.

My next goal will be saving enough money to take my Princess to Disneyland. I don’t know if I want to make the trip before or after the new little one comes. Since I don’t have a date it’s hard to plan. But for now I’m concentrating on making my baby’s 3^rd birthday the best ever.

I work this Saturday so that meant no yard sales for me. It actually hurts knowing how many sales there were that I was missing out on. So Sunday morning I woke up mom at the crack of dawn (Translation in my world: 9 am) and out we went yard saling. I was so exciting. It was a beautiful day. I had visions of finding the next big thing that was going to make me enough money to retire from my eBay earnings. How did I do? Well I’m still working. I did find some interesting items though.

I finally found my first American Girl doll. She didn’t come with any clothing and her hair has seen better days. But for $2.00 I figured I could take the chance on buying her.

I found this frame. Kinda corny but I saw it and imagined it sitting on my desk with pictures my Princess and my beautiful doggies (who swear they are human). And it only cost $1.00.

I also purchased a couple of Air Jordon sneakers. I’ve never sold shoes before much less tennis shoes. And since I never wear anything but sandals I'm far from an expert. But I know these aren’t cheap shoes and they were in great shape. Best part, they were only $1.00 each pair. I figured I could turn some kind of profit on them. No pics of those though because they are being cleaned.

I hope you scored better this weekend then I did. But like I always say, every little bit counts. It all adds up.

Yard Sale Finds 11/19/11

The past few weekends have not been very successful yard saling weekends. Yard sale season doesn't really wind down in California since we don't get the harsh winters other states do. But we do get rains and that tends to keep sellers in bed on Saturday morning. Last night rained so I didn't have high expectations for today. But that wasn't going to keep me from looking.

The very first yard sale we stopped at I found these 4 Department 56 North Pole Series houses and people. At Christmas time when I lived in SoCal I would go to Downtown Disney and wander around the Department 56 store and stare in awe at the gorgeous displays they had. I also stared in awe at the price tags on these homes. I have never tried selling these on eBay but I got all these for $5.00 so I knew without researching them that this was a good buy. At the same garage sale I bought a bag of misc toys for my nephew for a dollar. These are scattered all over the floor already so I couldn't get a picture.

The fourth garage sale (there were a few in between I didn't buy anything at) I bought this Little Einsteins rocket. The seller could only find one figurine. I had read on Yard Sale Mommy's blog that these were a good seller on eBay. For a $1.00 I was willing to take the risk

These are for me. I bought two boxes of fake fruit for $2.00. This is the first year that I'm going to have a Christmas tree and a two year old in the home so I'm concerned about breakable ornaments. I thought this would be a good alternative and a great deal. 

Not pictured items I bought: A Stephenie Meyer "The Host" book for a $1.00 (I am a huge fan of the Twilight series so I'm excited to read this), a baby doll bassinet for my Princess, a stack of clothing for me that I bought for 10 cents each, and a few random odds and ends.

All in all I went to a least a dozen garage sales and had a car full when I got home and was only out $15.00. Now that's a success yard sale day.

What To Sell on Ebay

This is a no brainer. We all know it's the holy grail of toys. And it's almost as hard to find at it would be the Holy Grail. I'm talking about Vintage Barbies.

I have been shopping at yard sales for many years and until a couple months ago I had never found any on my adventures. Then one ordinary Saturday morning I walk into someones garage and the first thing I see are FIVE vintage Barbies. I approached them slowly fearing they were a mirage. As I reached out for them I realized that they were very real and authentic vintage Barbies. I quickly grabbed them before anyone else could and asked the woman selling them "How much?" She starts out by telling me that they are very old. She played with them when she was young. That vintage Barbies were very collectible... and on and on. The more the spoke the higher I saw the price going. Finally she gave me the price: $5.00 each. Being a veteran yard saler I of course had to to counter with a lesser price. After much back and forth between us I finally ended up buying all five with some extra clothing for $15.00.

You would think I would have ran home and listed them right away. But no. They sat in my garage for a couple months. I couldn't decide if I wanted to list them separate or as a lot. Also, a few of the dolls had some issues.

This doll had the dreaded green ears. Apparently on some of these dolls when the earrings are left on the metal in them cause the ear area on these dolls to turn green.

A week ago I finally decided to list them as a lot including the above Barbie, two Midge bubble cut Barbies, a slightly newer Barbie, and a Skipper doll. I took pictures of all the issues the dolls had. My starting bid was $40.00 and the first day I got a bid. I also got 15 watchers. My listing was set to close on Saturday afternoon. On Friday night when I went to bed I had 55 watchers and 7 total bids with the highest bid being $75.55. Not as high as I was expecting but I knew I still had most of the next day to go.

On Saturday morning when I awoke I ran to my phone to see if I had received any more bids. I had!! My dolls were at $199.00. I almost fell over. They had surpassed my expectations. But the story doesn't end there. By the time my listing closed I had 70 watchers, 25 bids, and I had sold my Vintage Barbies for $306.89. And the best part about it was the buyer paid right away!

Now I will admit I know nothing about vintage Barbies and who knows if I could have received more if I had listed them differently. But for a $15.00 investment I am ecstatic about my $306.89 sale.

So even though I probably don't need to tell you, be on the look out for vintage Barbies.

Yard Sales Finds

This past Saturday I had to work. Horrible tragedy! That meant no Saturday garage sales. But that wasn't going to stop me from going to the few I could make it to.

Since I worked on Saturday I had Friday off. There were 2 community yard sales that looked promising on Friday. So early Friday morning I packed my Princess in the car, picked up my mom and off we went in search of treasures. Unfortunally what we found was lots of trash. One of the community yard sales only had 2 people selling and one of those was only selling edibible goodies. My mom was happy because she hadn't had breakfast yet. But I left empty handed. After driving around town for a couple hours we made it 6 yard sales and I only bought one thing.

I bought this rocker for $3.00. My Princess saw it and ran right to it, climbed on top and refused to get off. She is 2 1/2 and not small for her age. This rocker is much too small for her. But for $3.00 how could I refuse my Princess?

Sunday morning I consulted Craigslist and found 3 yard sales in my area. I packed Princess and Mom in the car again and off we went. The first one was selling their used items for new prices. Bought nothing. Second yard sale had great prices but nothing I needed. Just when I was started to lose hope I found this at the 3rd yard sale.

I know you are probably wondering "what the heck is that?". Well I bought TWO boxes full of Burger King kids meal toys. This is just a small portion I pulled out of one of the boxes to check prices on completed eBay listings. I paid only $3 for both boxes. Even if I can't sell them I know the kids will get at least $3.00 worth of entertainment from them.

How was your yard sale hunting this weekend?

Linking up to The Thrifty Momma

Yard Sale Finds

This weekend was a bust for yard sales. There were quite a few but most of the stuff they were selling was either too expensive or too old/used. I was able to find a couple of things to sell.

I've read on eBay underground that hot rollers are a good thing to sell on eBay. People buy them for use a pageants especially. I found this set still in the box with the original instructions for $2.00. Hopefully they will sell.

I also found two of these new in package Wilton Wedding  Cake Cathedral Kit for $1.00. I've already sold one of these for $38.99 BIN. Who knew people liked to bake. I don't think I've used my oven since I moved in a year ago.

At Savers I found this vintage 1978 Superman Underoos. I almost cried when I saw them because they brought back so many memories but mostly because they made me feel old. I couldn't find this exact one sold on eBay but hopefully it will sell well.

I also bought my Princess a couple of Childrens Place outfits and a few dresses for a dollar each..

How was your yard saling?

Visit The Thrifty Momma to see her great yard sale finds.

What to sell on eBay

If there is some magic formula for what to sell on eBay I still haven't found it. It's pretty hit or miss on my part.

I am a mother of a two year old and I like to make sure she is always dressed to the nines especially when we go out. But I just can't seem to be able to bring myself to pay retail for her clothing. Even going to Target and finding the clearance rack isn't good enough for me. About 90% of her clothing comes from garage sales. And most things I pay a dollar or less for. So it really shocks me how much parents are willing to pay for their child's clothing.

Recently I purchased four Matilda Jane dresses at a garage sale for $2.00 each. This was a splurge for me but they were adorable. On a whim after I purchased them I looked them up on eBay. They were selling for a pretty penny. So being a resourceful mom I decided to list them on eBay instead of letting my Princess wear them. I have already sold two of the dresses for $35.00 each and one for $25.00.

Now before you think I'm a horrible mom for not letting my Princess wear the dresses, let me tell you she has a closet FULL of clothing. My mom (who watches her for me) keeps asking me to go thru her closet and get rid of some of the clothing because they don't all fit in her closet anymore. And with the $95.00 I have already made on these dresses I can buy my Princess another closet full of clothing.

So if you ever see any Matilda Jane dress while out at yard sales or thrift stores, make sure you pick them.

Yard Sale Treasures

This weekend's yard sales (or year-d sales as my niece would say) were not very good. I think I'm giving up on the annual neighborhood yard sales. The last few I've gone to have not been good. I only had a couple hours to hit the yard sales because we were going to the Oakland Zoo later that day so I thought a community one would be my best bet. I think I hit 10 yard sales but only bought something at two.

The above picture is of 3 Mattel Liddle Kiddle dolls (sorry for the horrible picture). I bought all 3 for $2.00. I'm going to list them on eBay later this week. The completed auctions look pretty good. Especially for a $2.00 investment.

I also found a Little Mermaid Flounder costume. I couldn't find any completed auctions for the one that I bought. It only cost me $3.00 so I'm willing to take the risk. If it doesn't sell my princess will have a new dress up outfit.

How did your yard sale hunting go?