My Princess is 3!

It seems like just yesterday I brought her home. But it's been over a year already. And how she's grown.

Happy birthday Andi. Love you!

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.

Weekly Update

I reached my weekly goal!!!! I sold $175.00 my first week of my two week $300.00 goal. I am so happy. I started the week out really sloooooow and didn’t expect much. But I kept listing daily my goal of 5 items. I was very proud of myself because I hate listing (I know that’s not a good thing when I sell on eBay).

Week 1

Goal #1:

Sell $300 in two weeks. I sold $175 the first week so that leaves only $125.00 to reach my goal. And to make matters better my sister and mom are pitching in for my Princess’ gift so I only need to raise $150 and since I already sold $175 I have enough to buy her gift now. But I still am following through with my goal of selling $300.

Goal #2

List 5 items daily. I actually did this. I listed 35 new items this past week. For me that is a HUGE accomplishment. I’m going to keep it going this week.

My favorite sale of the week I think was this Dragon Fly shirt. It’s so UGLY!! I sold it for $17.00. I only paid $1 for it so that is a great profit. My niece always tells me I sell ugly stuff. That my might be true but at least they sell.

Update

Yesterday I had great intentions. I was going to go home and list a minimum of 10 items. I really was going to do it. I got home and I pulled 10 items for listing. I got all my things ready to take pictures and measuring tape and background and everything. And then real life intruded. My niece was over and she comes up to me and asks “Can Izzy and I go in the front yard and play with the neighbor?” I looked at my pile and then her face and I couldn’t say no. But that meant I had to go out front to watch the girls. Instead of throwing in the towel I decided to improvise. I got my stuff, went into the front yard and started taking pictures and measuring and doing everything I could. The neighbors probably think I’m crazy (actually they probably did already). But in the end I got 7 things listed. Always remember when life turns things upside down on you just roll with the punches and move on.

Goal #1

Sell $300 on eBay in two weeks. So far I haven’t sold anything else. I’m not worried because most things sell on the weekend.

Goal #2

List 5 things daily. I didn’t list Monday and yesterday I only listed 7 items so I need to list 8 today to make up for Monday.

I am staying positive about this whole thing. Even without any sales today. I think having the right mindset towards this will really help me. I will update more later. Hopefully some sales.

Goals

Why do you eBay? Here is the reason I eBay:

My Princess. As a single mom living on a single paycheck with a mortgage, bills, and growing baby I need all the extra money I can get. And I have another little one on the way (sorta). But even knowing all this I haven’t found myself very motivated to list lately. I have the merchandise. Just not the drive. I actually haven’t listed in almost 2 weeks (gasp!!). But all that is going to change.

I’ve been told that if you have a goal you should say it aloud and tell as many people as you can because you will be more likely to follow through and fulfill that goal. No one wants to look like a loser to their friends and family. So here is my goal. I need to sell $300 within the next to weeks. My exact dates are April 23^rd thru May 5^th. The reason for this is that my little Princess will be turning 3 (sigh. They grow up so quickly). And the gift I want to buy her cost $300. I know this is a lot to spend on a 3 year old. But it’s something she’s going to use for several years and so will the new little one. In order to accomplish this goal I need to LIST LIST LIST!!! My goal is 5 items per day minimum. I know I can do it. When it comes to my Princess anything is possible.

Goal #1

Sell $300 in two weeks.  I’ve already sold an item for $17.00 so that leaves me with $283.00. I’m getting there (thinking positively).

Goal #2

List a minimum of 5 items daily. I didn’t list anything yesterday so that means I have to do 10 today (starting to lose some of the positivity).

Wish me luck.

What to Sell on eBay

What to sell on eBay? Well apparently not anything I’m selling because last week was my slowest week EVER. I only sold 3 items for very low amounts. But I made sure I kept listing as much as possible and my sales are picking up already.

But that’s not why we are here. Recently I read a post from Late Night Coffee here about a vintage Fisher Price security blanket. I almost fell over. I see security blankets at garage sales all the time. For very low prices. Of course I don’t recall ever seeing this one specifically but I decided to research these blankets on eBay and was shocked how much they were selling for.

Here’s a screen shot of one that sold recently. They don’t all sell for that much (unfortunately) but after reading this blog I decided to try it. The following weekend I went to a garage sale and picked this one up for a quarter.

It is a Carter’s Just One Year elephant security blanker. It sold for $15.00 within two days. Not a huge amount but I will be sure to pick these up when I see them for a low amount. And always make sure you include the word Lovey in your listing title. That’s what people tend to call these blankets. Cute.

Da Rules

Da Rules. When we get older we think we know them all. There are the basics: don’t cheat, steal, etc. And of course the rules we should all live by like “Treat people the way you would like to be treated”. There are rules at work. Rules of the road. Rules everywhere. We know them all. Or do we?

I will admit I have never read up on the eBay rules. And I know they have a lot. There are restrictions you don’t dare break. My sister learned this recently and got a big slap on the hand. What huge rule did she break? Well here’s her story:

A couple months ago a coworker gave her a bunch of printer ink she no longer need. My sister listed it and it sold pretty quickly. Some of it was even expired (which she did disclose) and it still sold. It was all name brand name ink except for one. This one she listed at HP Compatible. Apparently that was a HUGE no no. She quickly got an email from eBay and the listing was pulled. What did she do wrong? Well apparently the listing should have read Compatible WITH HP. One simple little word. Her punishment? For 3 months she is on probation and is only able to list 5 items total per month. Yep that is only 5. Not a typo. Customer Service told her she should be grateful they didn’t kick her off. Wow.

So I guess it’s time I pull out Da Rule book and catch up on what I am and not allowed to do on eBay. And not to worry. My sister found a way around it. Did you know you are allowed to link up more then one email account to your PayPal account? So she created another eBay username with a different email address and linked it to her existing PayPal account. Sshh don’t tell.