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Showing posts with label Ebay sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ebay sales. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

When Life Gives You Broken China, Make A Mosaic

I was at a yard sale a few weeks ago and purchased this amazing hope chest for $40.00.

The woman who sold it to me asked for my name and phone number.

“I know I have the key and original paper work on it, so I’ll contact you when I find them,” she said.

Wouldn’t you know it, about a week later I received a phone call from Loretta.

“Can you come over this weekend to pick up the key and paper work on the hope chest,” she said. “I’m moving on Sunday to Seattle and want to make sure you have it.”

Mayer and Reef and I drove over to her place. Loretta was so sweet to us. After she gave me the key and paper work she took me into the garage.

“Anything in here you can just take,” she said.

Mayer and Reef instantly ran to a bucket of trucks and balls she had in the corner. Loretta pulled me aside, anxious to show me something that was obviously important to her.

“This is my box of broken china,” she said as she opened several drawers.

“I make mosaics and this is my collection of broken crystals, china and pottery. I want you to have it because there’s no way I can take it with me.”

Now I know nothing about mosaics, but I loved what I saw. I felt a new passion burning just looking at the different pieces.

“I could learn how to make mosaics,” I thought to myself.

So, I brought home about 100 pounds of broken china and here it sits in my garage. Everytime I pass it I have the thought, “When life gives you broken china, make a mosaic.”

This Sunday, the counselor’s sister, Amber and her boyfriend Stuart came over for dinner. Amber plays so sweet with Reef. They sat on the floor and played with this straw and a raisin for about an hour.

Later, Reef decided to do a little male-bonding with Stuart; soccer punch style.

Due to my current huge belly, I haven’t done much grocery shopping , so dinner was a bit sparse.

I suggest hamburgers, certain I had meat, buns and condiments to spare.

Well, I pulled out the ground turkey, lettuce (a little wilted on the edges, but no one seemed to notice), purple onion, tomatoes, pickles, cheddar cheese, but to my horror . . . I only had squished hot dog buns.

“Don’t sweat it,” Stuart said as he took charge in the kitchen. “I’ll make the hamburgers in the shape of hotdogs.”

He did just that and they were delicious.

I had the thought “When life gives you hot dog buns, shape your hamburger meat into the shape of hotdogs.”

With this in mind, I thought I’d share some of my highs and lows from EBay this past week because when life gives you a bad EBay sale you have a great one to contradict it.

I found this Coldwater Creek dress for $1.00 and posted it on EBay for $9.99. It didn't sell the first week, so I dropped the price to .99 cents. IT DIDN"T EVEN SELL. I might play the game, but I don't make the rules.

These Gap XL overalls were purchased at Goodwill on 1/2 off day for $3.50. They sold on EBay for $27.99. Oddly enough, I wasn't too surprised. Overalls are always an instant hit on EBay.

I found this Coldwater Creek outfit on $1.00 day at Goodwill. The entire outfit was $1.00. It sold for $14.99. Lucky for me.

Hanna Andersson is usually a big sale, but this darling little baby boy outfit didn't budge. Better luck next time.

Another pair of Gap overalls, another success story. This pair of large overalls sold for $26.00.

I found this women's Harley Davidson Medium Shirt. On most days, this would have sold for at least $9.99, but this week it didn't even sell for .99 cents.

These Old Navy Size 20 Board shorts seem like nothing too special, but they sold for $15.50. Let the summer begin.

Ebay has its good days and bad days, but in the end, I always come out ahead. Even with my non-sales, my profit for the week was over $200.00. How can you argue with that! Don't worry. I'll relist the other items. They'll sell and that will be a whole other experience for me to write about.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Birthday Party For Three Boys Paid By My Dear Trash

I've been so inspired by Kelly's Big Challenge. It's a blast to see what she makes each week and watch her get closer to her goal of $4,000.00. The idea behind The Big Challenge is to pick something you want (Kelly's taking a nice trip to Disney World with her Mr. Right and 5 girls) and earn the money to accomplish it by selling trash on Ebay, Craig's List and/or your own garage sale.

I've been working to pay for the birth of baby girl, but I needed something a little more exciting then paying a huge hospital bill. I wanted a challenge that provided instant gratification. The three youngest boys have birthdays just a month apart, so the counselor and I decided to throw a big blow-out birthday party before baby girl is born. I cleared it with my doctor. She said anytime I go into labor from here on out is fine, so I went to work (secretly hoping I'd go into labor).

Our family spent 3 days doing yard work, moving a huge pile of fire wood, cleaning up after dogs, house work, laundry, moping floors, shopping, baking and just overall making the house look beautiful. I love having party's at my home because it's one of the few times the house is really clean. Plus, the counselor really get's into it too and he's so strong.

I'll also admit we hired a neighbor to help with yard work and a friend to help with house work. All this was included in the money I earned from selling other people's trash.

For the birthday party, I wanted a bouncy. I found a company on Craig's List that had what the boys wanted; a sports bouncy with a basketball hoop. The rental fee for the day was $95.00. Since we rented it on a Monday, the owner offered it to me for $75.00. That was a nice gift I wasn't expecting so Happy Birthday to me too.

The invitation for the party said "Come for dinner and games."
Dinner was a burrito bar, salad, fruit, the best darn lemon-aide with lemons from our overgrown/desperate lemon tree and ice cream cake that could feed an army. The party was a blast, even though I didn't go into labor.
Happy Birthday, Payson. You're 8 and great!
Happy Birthday, Mayer. You're 5 and so alive!
Happy Birthday, Reef. You're 2 and way too cool!
We love you, little buddies and are so happy you had such a fun time.

I'm also happy to say the $300.00 tab from the party was picked up by yours truly. I have a few other Big Challenges in mind too: A new computer, a trip to Utah for a writer's conference and a summer vacation to Newport Beach, CA.
Plus, just this week the money I earned from My Dear Trash paid for a huge household project totally $1,000.00. I'll be posting that beauty tomorrow. What Big Challenges are brewing out there for you? We'd love to follow your journey as well.
Remember, just a few more days until we reward the winner of a Bella Be-Jeweled gift certificate. Leave a comment under any blog entry and become a follower to qualify. Good luck.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Top EBay Sells of the Week, plus another Great Give-Away. Meet Brooke from Design Stash.

It seems I was just at the post office with a stroller full of packages to ship, but here it is another week of EBay sales and another bin of packages ready to go out. My listings are steady, like a leaky faucet and it’s amazing how fast the weeks fly by (and I can even say this while pregnant). It would be so easy to take a week off EBay, but I’d miss it too much.

My top EBay sales of the week are as listed:

These Ralph Lauren Size 16W Jeans are in like-new condition and so cute. They sold for $26.49.

The law of averages pushed these Ann Taylor Petite Size 6 Tan Pants to sell for $16.50. Petite items can be hit or miss. This week, petites were a hit!

I found these Ralph Lauren Size 14 White Jeans last fall and wanted to wait until spring to post them. They sold for $10.50. What's interesting is after they sold I found the new tags hanging on the inside label of the jeans. These may have sold for more with a NWT listing, but I'm happy with the sell price anyway.

And finally, these two Ralph Lauren XL Men's Dress shirts sold as a lot of 2 for $14.99. I was hoping the counselor would wear him, but more and more its looking like he needs an XXL. That's the great thing about EBay. You bring something home from a yard sale or thrift store and it doesn't quite fit right, just post it on EBay and call it a day.

I am in love with the give-aways we have going on. I have another sweet lady who is setting up shop at the Fraser Fields Swap next weekend. Let's see what she has to share.

Let's meet Brooke from Design Stash.

Brooke's story is as follows:

"I started my business by first making banners for birthday parties, baby showers and holidays. Then after two boys I got pregnant with my first little girl and it was all over!! I was obsessed with finding cute and unique hair accessories to match the endless amount of outfits I was buying her! I couldn't always find what I wanted so I started making them....I started out with the traditional flowers with clips (I still love those and do sell quite a few, but I wanted to offer a more unique product) I then started making mini rosette headbands with all different kinds of fabric....satin, cotton, linen, tulle. I received so many compliments that I started selling them in my 'converted girly' banner shop (I now have two shops, one for banners, one for hair accessories).
My newest product is my flat rolled ribbon rosette headbands that I hope to make in lots of different colors...right now I have pink, coral, peach and yellow.
The biggest obstacle I've overcome is not letting others opinions govern what I do. I used to care so much about what others thought (on pricing, selection, quality) and now I just don't. I do what I do because I love it! :)
My best marketing tool has been Facebook for sure! I don't know why it took so long to start a fan page because it has resulted in so many new customers finding my shop and loving what I do. I love to also connect with photographers....I always offer a 20% discount on any purchase from a photographer if they are willing to share their images with me. A beautiful, quality photograph speaks a thousand words and makes my stuff look extra cute! :)
A little about me: I have two boys (6 and 3) and a baby girl (5 months) married to my best friend, J.J., for 8 years. I love to be with my family, shop, take trips and watch way to much t.v. I am also the Primary President in my church so I work with a little over 100 kids! That has been so much fun and keeps me really busy!"

Brooke is offering a $20.00 gift card to one lucky winner. Here are some cute headbands you could win with that generous offer.

So, become a follower today, leave a comment under any blog posting and you're entered to win from Design Stash. Visit Design Stash (http://www.etsy.com/shop/designstash) to see more of Brooke's treasures. Thanks, Brooke.