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Friday, May 14, 2010

Treasure, Inspiration and $1.00 Dresses

I was at the park last night watching my sunny boys run wild while I nursed princess peanut. My friend, who also has 5 kids, was also at the park so I had real adult conversation. What did we talk about?

Trash.

Adrianne loves shopping trash because “it’s a treasure hunt,” she says.

“I really want to try selling on EBay, but I’m not sure I could follow through with everything.”

Adrianne is dynamite. She’s so capable of this, if she really wants to try it.

She’s already got the qualifications—she loves to shop!

But I started thinking about the philosophy of trash. Why do I do it? What am I really looking for? Is something wrong with me?

Kelly and I had the same type of conversation.

“I need inspiration,” Kelly said as she prepared for Saturday morning garage sells. Even with 10 other projects in line, she’s looking for it too!

Ah ha—inspiration!

Maybe that’s what shopping for trash is all about; inspiration comes from discovering treasure, or awe, TRASH.

I have stacks and stacks of clothes, all ready to post on EBay and what did I do yesterday? I shopped Goodwill’s $1.00 and brought home another 30 items. Why?

Because there is so much potential in other people’s trash; money-making potential.

So I shop trash, looking for treasure, to be inspired and to make cold, hard cash.

There’s no shame in that.

If you look at my last week’s EBay sales, you’ll find I’m selling plenty of summer dresses.

Dresses are one of the few items I sell that don’t always have to be name-brand. For example, the black ruffle dress in the photo above is called "Double D Ranch." Who's ever heard of that? The only criteria with selling dresses on Ebay is they have to be cute. Cute dresses aren’t always easy to find, especially for $1.00, but they’re out there. All these dresses I paid $1.00 each.

The ugly dresses are easy to find, you know the Hawaiian print polyester tent dress that smells like week-old coffee or how about the teal green satin maid of honor dress with the armpit stains.

Image found here.

Is this dress even worth $1.00? I’ll leave that to your discretion.

Next week, I’m posting some of my favorite dressy finds on EBay and I’m excited to see what they sell for. I’ll let you know next week.

How about you? Are you feeling “dressy”?

4 comments:

  1. OK...so I've signed up for Ebay, but I have no idea how to make the buyer feel comfortable with buying from a brand new seller. Any tips and/or advice?

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  2. Hi Laura and Kelly, as a seller like you two I am in a slump. I need to sell for the income but I am feeling a little burned out. I can't really afford to take a break although I have this week. How do you keep your enthusiam for selling going? Also I am wondering, I usually list either sunday or tuesday to end on sunday, do you have a specific day or time of day that you find is best to list on?
    thanks
    Rebecca brownzoo@yahoo.com

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  3. I have! It is a popular western brand. You can get it at any western store and Dillards (specialty section)

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  4. Rebecca,
    Last week I was feeling a little buried in ebay, so I spent a little more time on craigslist. The best way for me to keep my enthusiasm up is to keep shopping. Each new piece renews my energy and excitement to resell it and see how much I can get for it. I generally list my ebay items on Tuesday evenings and do a 7 day auction. I've listed at other times and days and haven't seen a difference in sales- Laura would probably have a better idea though. Hope this helps.

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