Best Week Ever!

Last week was my best week on eBay ever! I sold 41 items. I'm in complete shock. That's more than I sold in the entire month of June and more than I sold the entire month of August 2015. I have no clue why?! I'll take it though. August 2016 is going to be my best month ever. I've already sold more items than any other month and am just $12 from it being my most profitable month. I didn't see that coming! Did everybody else have an amazing last week? 

That being said is anybody else having trouble with the eBay app? I sold 10 items on Saturday. Then, the app started acting funny on Sunday morning. I ended up selling 3 items on Sunday night and 1 this morning. I was selling that much in an afternoon last week. Just want to know if eBay is sabotaging me or if everyone else is having problems too? I swear it seems like every time I have success, they find a way to stop it. Maybe I'm just being paranoid 😃? 

Here are a few items I've sold since Wednesday: 

           Hudson Bootcut Jeans 29 

          Cost: $2.00          Sold: $19.99 

     Levi's Men's 514 Slim Straight Jeans

          Cost: $2.00          Sold: $19.99 

I stopped at the Goodwill Outlet on my way home from my thrifting trip last Wednesday. It was the last hour before closing. They had about 15 bins still out and only about 5 shoppers were still in the store. It was magical! I found 5 pairs of jeans, including the two pairs above. It just shows people have no clue what is valuable. 

         Burberry Men's Dress Shirt XL 

          Cost: $2.15          Sold: $24.99 

       Diesel Darron Men's Ripped Jeans 

          Cost: $7.00          Sold: $54.99 

       FSU Men's Nike Drifit Shorts Large

          Cost: $2.00          Sold: $17.99

       Mo Betta Country Western Shirt 

          Cost: $3.50          Sold: $39.99 

Mo Betta has been on my search list for a long time but I had never found any of the brand's products until now. Definitely add it to your BOLO list. This shirt plus the other items above already made my thrifting trip profitable. 

       RRL Men's Sweater/ Thick Shirt 

          Cost: $2.00          Sold: $31.99 

       RRL Men's Denim Jacket Size XL

          Cost: $9.00          Sold: $79.99 

BUY ANY RRL ITEM YOU FIND. EVER. 

       Paige Women's Bootcut Jeans 30

          Cost: $4.50          Sold: $24.99 

       J. Press Men's Jacket 42R NWOT 

          Cost: $0.00          Sold: $59.99 

I buy any J. Press item that I find. To get this jacket for free with my Goodwill loyalty card was epic! The jacket was absolutely beautiful. 

    7FAM Women's Kimmie Skinny Jeans

          Cost: $4.99          Sold: $24.99 

I could've held out for me, but I was on a roll and said why not? 

         Burberry Men's Golf Vest XL 

          Cost: $3.37          Sold: $24.99 

What were your big sales of the week? 

Tomorrow I'm going to make the 2 hour trip to Tallahassee and go thrifting. I've had great luck finding AMAZING items near the FSU campus, hopefully my luck continues. I've got medical bills and heart worm shots for Buckeye to pay far. Have to keep my foot on the gas. Stay aggressive! 

A-Z Brands: M

A-Z Brands: M 

Mother Denim 

Mother was founded in 2010 by designers Tim Kaeding and Lela Becker. Mother is famous for its super soft fabrics, irreverent attitude and made in Los Angeles branding. Mother, which stands for unconditional love, pushes technological boundaries with their soft fabrics. Kaeding and Becker say, "Mother is about having fun and not taking yourself too seriously." 

Mother has a limited representation on eBay. Currently, only 490 pre-owned pairs are listed and 780 sold recently. You ALWAYS want to buy brands where the number sold is greater than the number listed. Here are a few pairs of Mother jeans that sold recently: 

Personally, I have only found two pairs of Mother jeans. Both at the same store, at the same time; donated by the same person. Those living on the West Coast, where Mother jeans are produced; may have a better chance of finding pairs. If I find another pair of Mother jeans, I will buy them. No questions asked. Here is one of the pairs I bought and sold: 

I bought the pairs for $6 each. The other pair sold for $45 and this pair sold for $73. That's a nice profit margin! 

Grades for Mother Denim: 

Selling Price: A 

Availability: D 

Competition: A 

Consistency: A-

Overall: A-

Next A-Z Brand: P 

Polo Sport 

Fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Am I the only one whose eBay sales are on fire? I hope not! My sales have been as hot as the weather here in Florida. I've sold 21 items since my post on Sunday! 21 sales is the most for me in a 4 day period ever. It's so shocking I'm wondering if I'm on candid camera or if it's just a dream. 

I tried to find some trends in my flurry of sales, so I could pass along advice. Unfortunately, there are no trends in my sales. Look at these numbers: 

Number of items sold in August: 

Men's Clothing: 27 

Women's Clothing: 24 

Other items: 14 

Specific Articles of Clothing sold in August: 

Jeans/Pants: 14 

Jackets/sweaters: 15 

Shirts: 17 

You can see the sales are spread out across both genders and every article of clothing. My advice would be: list a diverse range of items. NFL items are selling now. School clothes and supplies. Jackets and jeans are selling to the people getting prepared for cooler temperatures. Hawaiian shirts and shorts are selling to people like me, who are still suffering through 105 degree days. Buy a wide range of items. Don't get yourself stuck in a cycle of selling the same items or type of item over and over again. 

Here are a few of my sales from the last 4 days: 

       Life is Good Women's T-Shirts XL 

          Cost: $2.00          Sold: $24.99 

          LL Bean Women's Pants NWT

          Cost: $1.00          Sold: $24.99  

       Keen Women's Newport Sandals 

          Cost: $3.00          Sold: $38.99 

I will be attending more estate sales. I purchased all three of these items at an estate sale on Friday and they sold within days. The prices are too good to pass up. 

       Jag Women's Cargo Pants NWT 

          Cost: $5.00          Sold: $25.00 

     Women's Cycling Jersey Size Large 

          Cost: $2.99          Sold: $18.99 

    7 For All Mankind Men's Austyn Jeans

          Cost: $5.00          Sold: $20.00 

       Brooks Bros Camel Hair Blazer 40

          Cost: $3.00          Sold: 31.99 

       Silver Ripped Tuesday Jeans 27 

          Cost: $4.99          Sold: $25.00 

       Denver Broncos Starter Sweater 

          Cost: $2.00          Sold: $32.00 

If you have any NFL or college football related items get them listed ASAP! If you don't have any....buy some! 

       Harley Davidson Men's Shirt XXL 

          Cost: $5.00          Sold: $35.00 

       Pendleton Women's Coat NWT 

          Cost: $3.00          Sold: $34.99 

       Lucky Brand Men's Jeans 52 X 32 

          Cost: $3.00          Sold: $31.00 

If Hope you're sales have been on fire as well! 

Gemini

I have the greatest parents in the world. No, seriously. I know everybody says that but legit mine are amazing. They've been together since they were teenagers and will be married 40 years next year. This is them: 

My Dad is the friendly guy, who coaches his kid's sports teams and drives a school bus just because he loves interacting with the kids. He was raised by his grandmother and had little to no money. His mother was Native American and they never practiced any religion, but Dad has the best set of morals of anyone I know. My dad is the friendly type, who waves at EVERYONE as he drives by. His entire family is adventurous and extremely unique. Dad is loyal to a fault, emotional, honest, risk taker, extremely hardworking, lacks common sense and is the book smartest person I've ever met. His downfalls: his hoards junk and drinks too much Dr. Pepper. 

My mom grew up 2 blocks from my dad, but with the exact opposite family structure. Mom is the youngest of 7 kids. Her Catholic mother was Irish and Catholic father was German/African American. She grew up in Catholic school; while my Dad attended the run down inner city, that was bombed as he was sitting in class. My grandpa owned and operated gas stations throughout Columbus, so money wasn't the biggest worry for my mom growing up. 

My mom is much quieter than my dad, she prefers to sit and read all weekend. Her parents were not very outgoing or friendly for that matter. If relatives came for a visit, they would have all the children hide and turn off the lights; so they would think no one was home. Mom is nicer than her parents but very much a home body. My mom is also extremely hard working. She is more emotionally guarded, not much of a risk taker, very unselfish and giving; open minded and accepting; not dramatic AT ALL, wasn't the greatest student, but has common sense and street smarts for days. Her biggest downfalls: lack of self confidence and she can be too hard on herself. 

My parents are both AMAZING and exact opposites in every way. I have a little bit of both of them in me. I'm book and street smart. I'm cautious but take calculated risks. Can be extremely outgoing; yet am a home body. I'm a Gemini and have taken on both personalities and skill sets of my parents. This causes CONSTANT internal struggles for me; even though I appear totally under control. The conflict becomes apparent in how I run my eBay business. At times I take risks like my dad and at other times I'm very cautious like my mom. Currently, I'm pushing myself to take more risks; as I tend to be cautious with anything money related. 

I made the decision this school year to focus on my eBay business more and less on my part time job. My only days off were Tuesday and Thursday, so I gave up Wednesday as well. The three days gives me enough time to take thrifting trips. 

Yesterday, I went on my first thrifting trip. I drove down to Leesburg, Florida and shopped at 7 thrift stores. The stores were alright and I should make some good money. Here is a breakdown: 

Spent on items to sell: $99.21

Spent on items for myself: $12.74 

Snacks: $2.79 (I couldn't resist some gummy bears!) 

Gas: $10 

Total: $124.74 

Estimated eBay costs will be: $96

Estimated shipping costs: $125 

Total expenses: $346.74

Estimated income: $959.00

Profit: $612.26 

I believe the time cost will be around: 15 hours total. $50.86 per hour. 

Generally, I make $40 on Wednesdays at my part time job. By taking the risk and focusing on eBay sales instead; I've greatly that number. I'll make more per hour than for the entire day working my part time job. These are the type of calculated risk, I would advise anyone making; if possible. 

What risks do you take with your flipping business? 

Disney

Today marks two years since I lost my best friend. The pain is still so real. I miss her every day and probably always will. 

It's been a tough week. The robbery and all that came with it got me flustered. I'm normally well composed but it messed me up. I missed a dentist appointment. I mailed the wrong item to a buyer. I spent a whole day dealing with the detective. Luckily, they arrested the person who did it. When it's someone you know, the betrayal cuts pretty deep. I'm happy he has been charged with four felonies. I got back the rare coins that he stole; yet had to buy my own stuff back from the pawn shop. That was beyond frustrating! Anyway, I'm happy he got caught. People gave us new TVs and a PlayStation, so all I lost out of it was 10 PlayStation games and about $500 in change. 

As far as eBay goes, I sold 20 items this week. Unfortunately, I've gone on one of those return runs; where people return items in a cluster. Strange how it works like that. Still eBay hasn't been too bad. Here are a few items I've sold: 

       Calvin Klein Vintage Jacket Large

          Cost: $3.00          Sold: $49.99

       2Pac Shakur Vintage 90's Shirt XL 

          Cost: $0.00          Sold: $50.00

     Chicago Bulls 90's Jordan Era Shirt

          Cost: $1.00          Sold: $15.99 

         Paradise Found Hawaiian Shirt 

          Cost: $2.00          Sold: $16.99 

       Jamie Sadock Womens Jacket 

          Cost: $2.00          Sold: $15.00 

       Big Star Maddie Bootcut Jeans 

          Cost: $3.00          Sold: $24.99 

       Hugo Boss Vintage Men's Sweater 

          Cost: $4.00          Sold: $13.50 

       Boostaroo 90's Portable Amplifier

          Cost: $0.00          Sold: $25.00 

       Dallas Cowboys 70's New Era Hat 

          Cost: $0.00          Sold: $25.00 

I thought this hat would sell for more. New Era is a great brand and how many times do you find a new hat from the 1970's? Dallas Cowboys stuff usually sells for more. 

     Marithe Francois Girbaud 90's Shirt

          Cost: $4.99          Sold: $21.99

       Silver Tuesday Women's Jeans 33 

          Cost: $3.00          Sold: $24.99 

       Armani Women's Blazer Size 10 

          Cost: $6.00          Sold: $19.00

I'm happy to be rid of this jacket. I thought it would sell better and had been listed for a while. Even experienced sellers sometimes buy the wrong items. 

How is August going for you? 

I've Been Robbed!!!!!!!

We went on vacation last week to Naples. Really I worked the whole time but the change of scenery was good. When we returned on Sunday night, our house had been robbed! The TVs were gone, PlayStation 3, a valuable coin collection that I was going to sell for a friend and a lot of money. I am so mad! How can somebody come in and steal for us when we work so hard? Even more disturbing: the doors were all locked and there wasn't any damage to the doors, so it was somebody we know. The police have been very helpful and hopefully it will be resolved on Monday or Tuesday. 

This week I also found out every tooth in my mouth is destroyed. Dentist was speechless. I didn't care too much. I've given up on my teeth and have decided to spend my money in other ways. The amount of money they are discussing is just insane. I'll pass! 

This week has been slower. I sold 16 items, while I was in Naples and only 8 items so far this week. I've listed a bunch of items, I bought in Naples so the sales will pick back up. How are your sales going? Here are a few of the items I sold this week: 

If you have Olympic items, list them now. If you see an Olympic item in the store, buy it and list it quickly. This tie sold in a day. 

I'll get back on track with my A-Z list this week. I've been helping a friend with school work and that's been a distraction. 

How are you doing?