Find & Flip - Summer Edition

I have to be more consistent with these kind of posts. I think the last one I did was during winter. Ebay has become such a big part of my life that I should post about it more often!

Anyway, I learned that most of July and the first part of August are super S L O W for the types of items I sell the most - clothing and shoes. It was depressing! But things have really picked up in the last ten days or so. I am averaging two sales a day, and while that doesn't seem like much, it actually makes for a really nice amount of sales by the end of the month. My average sales price per item is about $35.

Even though sales were down, I used the time to increase the number of listings in my store. I also focused on things I thought would do well in the fall, and things besides clothing and shoes.

Here are some of my best flips this month so far:

I found these NEW at the GW for just $6.99. All of my listings are Buy It Now, but I add Best Offer to my listings so that buyers can negotiate price with me. This buyer did not want to negotiate - she paid full price! If these shoes had been my size, I would have kept them. They are so cute!

This shirt was also new. It even had the original tags attached that said it retailed for $90 originally. I had a couple of lowball offers on it earlier in the summer, but I didn't accept them. It sold for full price the other morning. I had paid just $4.99 for it at GW.

Like I said, because sales were slow, I ventured out of my comfort zone. I found this at GW in great condition (just a couple of tiny chips) for $5.99. It sold overnight for full asking price.

I found this on a shelf in the GW. I didn't know it was Coach until I picked it up and opened it. The Coach emblem was on the inside of the billfold. I paid 99 cents for it. It sold in a couple of weeks for a Best Offer of $35.

All great finds and flips! However, the absolute best find happened last night when Michaela (after a summer of looking!) found an American Girl Doll. She was/is so excited about her find - Molly a retired doll. I will not be flipping Molly and that's okay!

Week In Review

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook earlier this week:

Right?! Whether you're working this summer, or not, summer is slipping away. I'll report back to work in three and a half weeks, and school will start for Michaela the week after that. Where does the time go?

I had so many projects I wanted to get done this summer; but at the beginning of the week, I had not done any of them. The weather was really hot when we returned from our vacation, so that was a deterrent. Thankfully, this last week has been much cooler. So Monday morning I took on the task of cleaning out and organizing the laundry room portion of my garage. This is not only where I do the laundry, but it's also where I store my ebay inventory and shipping supplies. Things were all over the place before, but now they are neatly stored. It also revealed to me that I'm approaching the maximum amount of inventory I can house -  between 250 and 300 items.

I did take some photos of my hard work, but I can't seem to locate them just now. You aren't missing out on much. Besides, even in its new, organized state, my laundry room is no beauty. At least it's more functional now.

I also spent lots of time sourcing this week for ebay. I anticipate that sales will be very good in the fall, and I want to have good inventory on hand and listed. June was a great month in sales, but July wasn't. August has started out well enough, but I don't know what to expect at this point. Hopefully people will start their fall wardrobe shopping soon.

On Monday I also started a detox/cleanse program with Arbonne and my friend, Kara. She has done this successfully earlier this year. In fact, she lost twenty pounds at that point. I'm not looking to lose twenty pounds, but I am interested in dropping some weight. The program doesn't allow me to eat sugar, dairy, gluten, corn, caffeine, etc., and I drink a couple of protein shakes each day. There are other supplements in the program. I had a dull caffeine headache the first four days, but I'm over that now. This is a 28-day program, and I'm pretty sure it's something I can stick with for the duration. I don't usually feel hungry, and there are lots of options for clean snacking and cooking.

I had my first day off this summer on Thursday this week. Michaela spent the night with my parents on Wednesday night, and she spent the following day with them. They were going to take her to the county fair, but she chose to stay home and swim instead. She loves the water.

Yesterday, we went to the movies to see "Nine Lives". It reminded me of "Freaky Friday" (the original one!). Overall, it was a cute movie. I will have to say that I did not appreciate some of the language in it. Obviously, it's a movie for children, so why foul language has to be used is beyond me. This is why we go to the movies infrequently! I take Proverbs 4:23 seriously: 

And I've learned that exposure to a lot of pop culture (movies, television, music) is not the best source of healthy examples for Michaela and me. In the end, the main character learned a good lesson about life and the importance of family. So it was funny and it did have a positive message.

Have a blessed weekend!

Find & Flip: January - February

As I stated in a recent post, January was pretty slow. There would be entire weeks where I wouldn't have a single sale. That didn't mean I wasn't working the business, though. I had heard that January was a great time to be thrifting because so many people had made donations at the end of the year. So I did a lot of sourcing in January.

One day my mother-in-law and brother-in-law took Michaela to Disneyland, and I had the entire day to myself. I spent $220 at the Goodwill and came home with 35 items. My cart was full. It was fun.

What's even more fun than thrifting for items for sale (which is fun!), is hearing my iPhone cha-ching when something sells. That's when my hard work literally pays off.

Here are some of my favorite finds and flips from January and February:

This was one of the items I purchased that day at the Goodwill. I don't usually buy jeans because they are $9.99 and it's hard to make a decent profit after that. But if they are new with tags, and a good brand, I will happily spend $9.99. These sold in less than two weeks. Cha-ching!

Anthropologie labels sell well. I paid $4.99 for this pretty top and it sold in just a few days.

Here's another item I found new with tags. Dresses at my Goodwill are usually $8.49 as was this one.

Such a pretty sweater. If it had been in my size, I might have kept it. Sweaters are $6.49 usually.

One thing I noticed about my February sales compared to the previous months was that the average sales price dropped. Previously, I had an average sales price of $36 per item. But in February my average sales price dropped to $30 per item. So sales were up, but people were spending less overall.

I have also learned to shop my own closet for inventory. There are things I am not wearing for whatever reason, and they are destined to be donated anyway. Why not make a few bucks instead?

This was something I purchased from Stitch Fix last year. It's cute, but I wasn't that excited about it anymore. I paid a lot more for it than I sold it for (there are no deals on Stitch Fix), but I recouped some of my investment - and it sold quickly.

I purchased this from ThredUp not that long ago. It's super cute, but I decided that it's a little "young" for me at this point. I'm sure I paid less for it than I sold it for.

March is off to a great start. I've found some great items and sales are good so far. I'm hoping for 40 sales this month. Come on eBay!