When selfishness pays!

 

The other day was 45 cent day for miscellaneous items at my friendly thrift store here in Tulsa Oklahoma so I decided to stop by to see what they had.

I found some awesome stuff…but none of it on sale for 45 cents! You see, they tag every item when it comes in, everything has a color and a price. And when they have a sale like this they always have 2 of the 5 tag colors that aren’t for sell. And lucky me I kept finding everything that was one of the 2 non-45 cent tags! Grrr…

I did find this game in a metal box for 45 cents.

I looked it up when I got home and it is worth a whole…get this… 1 penny. Yea, it doesn’t sell too well…bummer, cuz everything else I got was to keep. But hey, I’m sure I can do something with the metal box if I paint it!

I got this 1 liter cravat to keep. I’ve taken to putting my milk in one of these after I buy it because it takes up less room in my fridge, but I needed 2 of them! My fridge has more space for long skinny things then tall fat ones! And I do it cuz I’m a bit odd…if you haven’t figured that out by now!

I also debated and finally bought a bag. Bags can be full of junk or awesomeness. ‘Specially if you can get them for 45 cents!

Unfortunately and fortunately this one was full of cups and bottles. I don’t need any bottles. But I saw two of these cups that were still in their wrapper and two that looked new but not in their wrapper and one non-straw one.

So I thought, “hmmmm, what if I bought this and sold the two new sippy cups for the price of the bag?”

So I got it and after cleaning them my kids LOVE the two cups that weren’t in wrapper! I put the other ones on ebay for $3.95, which is what I paid for the lot.

Unfortunately they didn’t sell, though I did get an email from Europe about them! My kids loved the ones they used so much I sort of wanted to keep them so I was happy with no bids! DON’T PUT THINGS ON LINE THAT YOU MIGHT REGRET SELLING. Rule #1 of reselling. LOL!

I also put this lot, from the bag, on eBay for $3.95. It got a bid with 20 hrs left to go! Yay! Made money, Recycled what wouldn’t sell, and got to keep 4 cups. Whoop!

Also in the bag was a couple of parent choice bottles. I walked in on this today!

Yes, we do have clothing for those baby doll, it apparently is just more fun to take the clothing off than put it back on!

Yay! Made my money back, Recycled what wouldn’t sell, and got to keep 4 cups. Whoop!

Oh, and our church has a deal with a guy who turns plastic recycled things into  benches and is willing to do some for the woods behind our church if we provide plastic. Yay! Look at me! Suddenly a plastic recycler!

SOLD! Nike Shox

Shoes
Shoes can be a big deal on Ebay, specially kid shoes. Everyone wants name brand for their child but no one wants to pay the price. I mean, $50 for a pair of shoes your kid might wear for 2 months? Come on! Enter Ebay!

I purchased these Nike shoes at a garage sale for $2. A bit higher than I usually pay but I knew I could resell them & that they would fit my daughter.
Well, this summer just turned out too hot to wear these shoes and now they are too small. So to eBay they go!
I looked them up and realized that the Nike swish wasn’t worth as much as this part:

That, ladies and gents, is Nike Shox. Apparently very desirable after 17 watchers and 7 bids these shoes sold for $15.50. Not bad for size 7 kid shoes that I got for 2 bucks! In the last five minutes the price went up by $5. Needless to say I’m happy!

Why, Ebay? Why?

 

I saw a baby Bjorn carrier at the thrift store today and looked it up when I got home to see how much it sells for it. No way was I paying the $20 the store was asking but I was curious just the same.

Apparently it is the BABY BJORN ACTIVE INFANT CARRIER LUMBAR SUPPORT  and is worth about $120 brand new. Well, this one looked new but without a box. They resale fairly well and some for as much as $100 new & $30+ used.

But here is the catch:

Check out these sales:

This one started at .99 cents with free shipping and never sold.

LN BABY BJORN INFANT CARRIER LUMBAR SUPPORT ACTIVE EUC

Item condition:
Used

Starting bid:
US $0.99

Shipping:
FREE Expedited Shipping

This one however:

Baby Bjorn Active Carrier

Item condition:
Used

13 bids

Winning bid:
US $53.50

Shipping:
$10.00 Standard Shipping

It started out at $9.99, had $10 shipping, less of a title, and sold after 13 bids for $53

The difference? I don’t know. The stock photo maybe? I know that makes me feel more confident when I’m bidding, even if I know it was used…silly, I know but we all like to buy items that look like they came from a department store!

Oh, and the auctions closed 5 days apart.

So should I go invest $20 and hope it sales for $50+? I don’t know. I think I might just wait and see if it goes on sale next week, but I doubt it. It was really nice and pretty obvious where it was on the rack.

Oh, the choices when one resells!

Round up!

 

This week eBay has finally started to pick up! Yay!

Here are some of my most recent:

J.Crew Chino pink cotton shorts size 2 city classic fit

Purchased for $1              Sold for: $9.99

 

Gap Size 6 black skirt with pockets! Knee length!

Purchased for $1              Sold for: $8

 

Women's Maternity B Sport top Blue V-neck

Purchased for $1              Sold for: $4.99

WOMEN BOLLE SPORT GOLF / TENNIS SKIRT SIZE M !! NEW !

Purchased for $1              Sold for: $12.95

 

Liz Lange Maternity Haltertop dress size XS

Purchased for $1              Sold for: $5.00

 

Ann Taylor Loft shorts GREEN size 8.

Purchased for $1              Sold for: $5.55

Ann Taylor Loft brown capri size 4 Julie. cropped pant

Purchased for $1              Sold for: $7

Banana Republic size 2 pencil skirt. Front split. black

Purchased for $1              Sold for: $7

 

So far I have made $82 this week.

And it isn’t over yet!

Cloudy? Take it outside!

I just got back from the clothing store and took the tags of my clothing items and took them outside to take pictures. Why? Because today is cloudy and that means great lighting.

 

Now I know with this crazy weather going outside isn’t the best idea! But if you have a cloudy day take those pictures outside for several reasons!

1. You will get the best lighting possible.
2. The green grass and just plum different setting then all the other pictures on eBay & will catch the customer’s eye!

I’ve notice that many people on Etsy take pictures outside with amazing results. Lookers look at things like that! Even if they are just wondering if you have green carpet in your house! They will blow up that picture bigger.

 

(And yes, I’m selling that little guy but after taking this picture I’m second guessing myself! He is so cute!)

My Homework

Now this might be obvious to other people who do this but it just hit me that when I’m reading blogs about other thrift-ers that is my “homework” so to speak.

I learn lots of things. Like a few weeks ago I read that Jean Capri's sell well, even Lee and other regular brands. So when I had a few extra minutes at the thrift store I looked for Jean Capri's. I found some. Not only were they Jean Capri's but they were Chico. A brand that I read on another blog sells really, really well.

 

I used the free picture that was a special a few weeks ago and posted 4 pictures of these Jeans. After 6 bids that took the price from $12 to $20.50 it finally sold. I’m glad I didn’t put a buy it now price on these because I doubt I would have made as much money on them!

So now when I look through blogs of other thrift-ers I won’t look at is as slacking off, but as an enjoyable relaxing way to do my homework!!

99 cent swimsuit makeover

 

See these swim suits?

I remember purchasing a Lands End swim suit when I was a teen. I think I paid AT LEAST over $40 for it.

The printed one is a Target brand. I got it for 99 cents on sell day at my thrift store.

The brown one came with bottoms and was also 99 cents. It turned out to be Banana Republic! Score!

The problem is that the neck line is a touch to low for my liking on the brown suit. So I was going to run to the thrift store and get another suit I could cut up. But realizing that on that day it would cost me a couple of bucks for a suit, at the minimum, I took a 2nd look at the floral suit.

 

Yep. I cut it up. I thought I might regret it but it was only 99 cents. And right now my just-had-a-baby body doesn’t fit anything quite right so I’m not even sure how well this fit me!

I cut the back completely off. I used the top part of the back so I wouldn’t have to hem anything.

I eyeballed it then pinned it in.

 

I didn’t cut the material until I sewed it just so if it didn’t work out I’d have extra material to fix it.  

Yes, I sewed it by hand. The sewing machine I had is out of whack and I just plain don’t have room for another sewing machine in my house!

 

 

I tried on the almost finished project and used my imagination on how it would  fit next summer when I’m almost done nursing.

The inside was a little rough but since this is just for me I don’t mind! 

It turned out pretty well I think!