The answer to this quiz is...

Usually I stick to selling music and electronics, but after reading a few other eBay blogs (particularly this one) I have been making sure to browse the toy section of my local Goodwill every time I visit. Just two weeks ago I came across this board game (I believe it is from the 90's) new & sealed. I checked the UPC code on my ancient flip phone on Amazon and saw there were some used ones for $20-30. Since this was just $3.99 I picked it up. No one had a new & sealed one on Amazon so I priced mine at $49.99 - and it just sold! So - anyone reading - do you think I priced it too low? I am left wondering if I could have squeezed another 25 bucks out of it.

I am happy either way - an easy find and an easy list - I love listing on Amazon for this reason, just type in the UPC code and enter your description and price - and it is for sale! Might have to check Goodwill again today on the way home.

Selling my 18 year old shoes...crazy?

So I have been trying to list a lot of items I have been keeping around FOREVER to generate some cash during the Christmas eBay rush. I bought (well my mom bought) these shoes in 1992 - I was on the basketball team and Air Jordans are obviously top of the line. I wore these the whole season and loved them. This was one of the only pair of Jordans I ever had, and since we were definitely not accustomed to buying $125 tennis shoes I kept them - FOR 18 YEARS. Listed them on Halloween on eBay and so far I have 35!!! people watching them and 2 bids! I started the bidding at $9.99 - I am anxious to see what happens Sunday night when this auction ends.

Also listed an old smart phone I bought for my wife for $30 - it is really too complicated for her to use, and she is probably switching over to Verizon anyway. Good news - I also listed that on Sunday and it is already up to $55! Guess it will work out after all. Now I just need ot make time and get to listing these hundreds of records and CD's I have been putting off.

UPDATE 11/8/2010 - The shoes sold for $69! Just waiting on the paypal payment!

Christmas is coming...and a rant

Christmas is indeed coming. For whoever reads my little blog I apologize about the lack of posts - I have been picking up substitute teaching jobs like crazy because the pay period ends at the end of the month - and 2 weeks were missed because of Fall Break. Anyways, still chugging along selling on eBay and Amazon.

Rant time: a buyer in Australia left a negative on Amazon WITHOUT contacting me because they haven't received a $2 CD 3 weeks from purchase. If they had contacted me I would have just refunded - who knows what happens on transatlantic deliveries? And eBay sent another email saying I have 30 days to bump up my DSR's because one category has 1% of less than 3 star ratings. They say they will downgrade my store - which is scary enough but I am terrified of being booted off the bay. I have done NOTHING wrong but I have heard horror stories - it really does seem like eBay wants to be dominated by Mega-Sellers and nothing else.

Christmas is coming and I am desperate to find the time to post some big items I have been sitting on - see if I can get some Christmas Bonus cash flowing! Good luck to all sellers!

Polka Polka Polka!

Another good one from my recent thrift store buys - an obscure Polka (yes Polka!) record that sold for $22. As usual it was 99 cents - I think this one was from Goodwill but it could have been a Nashville indie thrift store. Hard to know what to price an item at when you have the only one on eBay - I had this at $24.99 and since I am running a sale right now someone picked it up for $21.49 - might have left some money on the table but I am happy with 20 times my purchase price in just 2 or 3 weeks time. Really hoping sales pick up some steam as we get into the holiday season!

2000 feedback reached...not very excited

Over the weekend I got to the 2000 mark in positive feedback (currently I am at 99.5% for the year). It is not nearly as exciting as reaching 1000, but also for another reason. Recently I got an email from ebay that I wasn't performing well on the "detailed seller ratings" because I was over 1% (yes one percent) of less than 5 stars on one category. This is ridiculous. The email said it could jeopardize my store standing and such. I have just heard too many horror stories of ebay shutting someone down for no reason. I don't get complaints, I don't rip anyone off, just good selling practices and happy customers. Just something that weighs heavy on the mind...

Anyways - the picture is just another album from my recent thrift store spree - sold this one for $12 (it was 99 cents) - have sold a few others in the $7-10 range, so definitely making my money back. The adventure continues!

Another Goodwill score!

In the past 3 weeks or so I spent about $50+ at various thrift stores. Luckily today at least I broke even. Got an offer for the record you see here called "Count Your Many Blessings" by The Four Internes (no I am not spelling that wrong). A guy in The Netherlands offered me $50 plus shipping and I took it. The only other one I could find sold this year for $96, but a bird in the hand is worth ten in the bush to me. A good find and a good score! You may ask how I knew to buy this - well I didn't really, just an obscure group on an obscure label that seemed out of the ordinary so I took a chance. Got lucky on this one - lets hope some of the ~49 or so others bring some good money as well.

Taking a chance in Nashville...

Took the family into Nashville for the weekend for some family stuff, so when I found some free time of course I had to go junkin'. First up was a very big Goodwill (much larger than the one in my town). Had a decent amount of records, and I had a lot of time on Saturday so I picked out about 20 or so I was interested in, and checked what I could on ebay on my old cell phone. This is slow and tedious, but I whittled them down to about 8 I was interested in. A few gospel, and some Disney LP's I couldn't find on ebay. Hopefully at least one is a winner.

Then the next day I took the wife to her sister's house to prepare for a birthday party later in the day. I stopped at a thrift store where I had some good luck about 6 months ago - scored an obscure Nashville goth/electronic music record for .99 cents that later sold for about $50. They have a TON of records, and I had limited time. I picked out about 45 that held promise - but I had no time to check on my cell phone for duds! I ended up buying about 30 (for a buck a piece). Hopefully I have quite a few winners and fast sellers (though I doubt any of this will sell fast as it is a lot of obscure gospel) - but we shall see! Normally I wouldn't have splurged $30 but I had already spent 45 minutes in the place and needed to be back. I will update if I find any winners.

PS - I am actually substitute teaching now, and actually posting this from an assignment! The class is taking a test.

A big sale - but also a mistake!

Here is another quick tale of a big sale, but also a big mistake on my part. I partner with someone I met online to list a lot of his vinyl records on eBay, and we split the profits three ways after fees. I found this old gospel record by The Revelaires in the stacks (these are all old radio station inventory from a defunct local AM station). I couldn't find any history of it, so I listed it starting at $15, and instantly got a few bids and a lot of watchers. However it wasn't until it started creeping up that I went to the auction and noticed I had put a totally different LP pic up for this listing! Yet this auction was already up to $40 or so in spite of this mistake. I couldn't change the pic because there were already bids, so I could either cancel the bids and start over, or just add some text stating I made a mistake.

I added text that said "PLEASE NOTE THIS AUCTION IS FOR THE REVELAIRES - the picture in the auction is incorrect but all listing info IS CORRECT". The LP ended up selling for $104! I have still never seen another for sale.

If I had to guess I would say I probably made at least a $100 mistake on this one - it went for $104 without even a picture of the LP. Some collector got a real deal on this one. What could have been!

My biggest $$$ on a LP (vinyl record)

To kick things off, how about a big success story? Here is the tale of my biggest sale of a single vinyl record on eBay. This was a real surprise!

I browse my local Goodwill a few times a week. Usually I head straight to the music section (if there isn't a weirdo already browsing there). On this day I don't remember how many LP's I bought, probably 5-10 (records at my Goodwill are usually 99 cents each). They usually have at least 100-200 LP's at any one time, and usually 99% of them are either worthless or in horrible condition. You really have to have a feel for vinyl to pick out the gems, otherwise even at 99 cents each you are going to be losing money (and wasting time)!

I bought a few LP's that I had never heard of (I usually don't look up each one on my phone to see if there are others on eBay, takes too long on my old junk phone). This caught my eye because it was in good shape, I had never heard of the group, and it was on an obscure label I had never heard of. I usually look for those things, but then again you can buy 20 like that and never sell a one.

I started the auction at $25 (which is strange for me, usually I only start at 9.99 or less). Didn't get much action early on, but during the week got a few bids and had a lot of people watching the auction. So the night it ends I check my email on my phone (it was actually my birthday and I was out partying!) - and guess what? It ended at $159!!!!!

By far my best money maker on a record ever. Easily cleared over $125 profit after fees and everything else. And here is the kicker - the buyer was in South Korea! You never know what you might find at Goodwill, but be careful - most of the gems are buried under junk.

Let's try this...

digging for treasure (not me in pic)

Hello world! I have tried to blog before, with little success in keeping at it. This time though I am going to make a real go at it. I want to document my adventures in selling on eBay (and craigslist, and wherever) - as right now this is my ONLY source of income for a family of three. I am a licensed teacher, but I just have not been able to find a teaching job since graduating with a M.A. in 2009. So really what I buy and sell is my only way to put food on the table (and diapers on the baby)!

 I hope you follow along, as I will try to make multiple posts per week. Also, as inspiration (and a source of great reading material) I suggest this blog - Money In The Garage - updated frequently, and very interesting to follow a similar minded seller!

I have been making income online since around 1997 or so - yes that long! I just became an eBay powerseller for the first time this year. I also sell on Amazon, and sell larger items on Craigslist (and a similar local service to me). I mainly sell vinyl records (hence the blog title) and CD's/DVD's as the bulk of my stuff, but honestly you never know what I will come across.

So bookmark if you dare, and follow along as I share some of the many ups and downs in selling online!