Pretty Excited About Ebay Clothing Sales

I have a wonderful friend, great encourager, who just happens to be The Ebay Queen of Auctions.

Here we are on the weekend of one of her fabulous Bootcamps

Here we are recently with our crew



Great Friend...and uh, The Van

 My friend Lynn is amazing!  She's one of the hardest workers I know.  She's smart, business minded, and successful!  A few months ago she mentioned I should try selling some "new" clothing in my ebay store.  After a little time, I did as she suggested (I'm not the quickest- she's been suggesting ebay selling to me for about 12 years.  I'm finally getting on board).  I purchased about five items on a clearance rack, listed them as new with tags, and then waited.  Also note, I listed them at a fixed price, but then also offered the "Best Offer" option.

One item I listed was a black, sweater-type tunic by Calvin Klein that I purchased for $10.  I listed it for $49.99.  I woke up this morning to an offer of $40.00!!  Yay!  I was so excited!  What a great way to start off the day!  I think I will continue to pick up a few items here and there on the clearance rack.  Looks like a profitable venue.

The black Calvin Klein top

So happy for the sale!

To find out more about Lynn, the Queen of Auctions, check out her website and sign up for her ezine electronic newsletter.  You'll be so inspired!!

Bright Ideas for Dishes

As you may or may not know I'm moonlight as an ebay seller.  It's not that I have tons of time, but I have a desire to field trip and buy something new every once in awhile and found this is one way to earn a couple extra dollars.  Tonight as I was perusing Pioneer Woman's website checking out the recipe and photos of her brother's tacos, I noticed the plate holding the tacos.  Hey, I think I have that dish in my stacks of plates.  Could it be Terra Cotta Rope by Target Home?  (I'm getting pretty good at pattern identification).  Maybe if I had some creativity, I could borrow a decorative plate from my collection, and photograph food on plates that would coordinate with the food.  But that would take a lot of time.  I'd have to wash the plate, set up the food, and then hope for good lighting.  I'm terrible at finding the right lighting.  Now I'm wondering where does Pioneer Woman store all these plates for her wonderful photographs?  Who's schooling her kids while she's taking all these great shots?  Who's cleaning up the messes so the dirty dishes aren't stacked up in the background?  Being that creative must be exhausting?  Or, she must have a TON of space and a lot of help.  Hmmm...maybe she'll one day buy just the right dish to display the latest and greatest enchilada recipe.  So far, I don't think I've ever shipped anything to Oklahoma.  Maybe next month.

Letting Go of The Stuff

Letting go of MY STUFF is REALLY hard!  It makes me want to cry!  I love beautiful dishes, stunning displays, and a well-decorated home.  But sometimes all the stuff can be just too much. 

When I was growing up, my family never had a set of China and for some reason having a "Special" set of dishes was something I always wanted.  I remember going to friends' homes where the family buffet displayed china and glassware.  It looked so beautiful to my budding inner Martha Stewart.  When I grew up, I hoped to one day to have a set of china to entertain family and friends during holidays and celebrations.

When my sweetheart and I got engaged, we (more like I) picked out a sweet, feminine Noritake China pattern.  When we got married, we received many pieces, but all in all, it was only service for five.  Over the past 18 years of marriage we've never completed the set.  Consequently, we have only used it a handful of times on an anniversary, or if it was only our immediate family, we'd use it on Thanksgiving.

These days, that sweet, light pink floral with a silver lining just doesn't seem to fit our current style.  In our life with three active children, stoneware seems to be the more practical choice.  Furthermore, space is now limited and storage of another incomplete set of dishes just doesn't seem practical.  Rather than storing the incomplete set, I'd like to pay off some debt and save for something more useful to our family.  So, with apprehension and hesitation, I listed my wedding china on ebay.  I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do or not.

The wedding china might move out, but I'll definitely keep the man and the kids.

Great Ebay Sale- Target HOME Plates

Years ago, a good friend, The Queen of Auctions, tried to convince me to try selling on ebay to earn a supplemental family income.  I was too overwhelmed with a real estate career and little ones at home to even think of "trying" something new. 

Since leaving the real estate field, I've often thought of making an effort to sell on ebay for a little extra income.  This year she encouraged me to take the leap.  I opened an ebay store and have been selling regularly since last spring. 

I just attended one of her bootcamps and she suggested I purchase this set of dishes we found at a thrift store for $12.50.  Let me tell you...I'm so glad I listened to her suggestion!  The total profit on this set was $114.07!

I must admit, I didn't listen too well at the bootcamp.  I listed them as a BUY IT NOW rather than at auction first.  She thinks I may have left some $$ on the table.  I guess this is part of my learning curve.  I'm happy with the result.  Hopefully they'll arrive to their destination in Florida safely. 

Terra Cotta Dinner Plate

The Dream is Becoming Reality

Last year in our homeschool studies, we've learned about Colonial America beginning with the Vikings up through the Revolutionary War.  It was my dream to take the kids to see history come to life by visiting the East Coast and the places we learned about. 

In order to make this dream happen, momma needed to raise some $$.  So how does a full-time wife, mom and homeschooler raise money to take five people to tour the East Coast.  Remember the ebay venture I wrote about earlier?  Well, it's going well and we've raised a good portion of the money.  I'll blog on some of the best sales later.  I definitely feel blessed!

Tonight was a BIG night!!  I was a bit nervous, but with the help of my hub we nailed down dates and booked our flight to Washington D.C.!  Whew!!  How wonderful!  Now we'll need to begin planning our agenda. 

I've been told we can catch trains from D.C. to just about anywhere on our list.  I'm so excited!

Back to the research...we'll keep you posted!

A Job for Momma

I have a friend who is an ebay queen. She's sold thousands of items, is a single mom and supports her family. Needless to say, she's amazing!!!

We met recently while she was in town for her son's baseball tournament. We figured we hadn't seen each other in about six (much overdue) years. But, while talking, introducing the kids and walking down memory lane we realized we've known each other for about 17 years!! Wow time flies!!

Back in the day, she moved back to her hometown to help her grandma out with her antique business. I was a newlywed, unemployed, and had just started a side crafting/floral business to supplement the substitue teaching. Married in 1992 I had resigned from my full-time teaching position after getting married and moved to a new town.

When looking for businesses to display my creations, I came across Lynn's grandma's antique store. Lynn was enthusiastic, encouraging and welcomed my wares. She's got a great business mind and to be quite honest, I think she's got a HUGE heart and wanted to help out a big-brown-eyed newlywed.

Thus began our friendship. A few months later we purchased our first home and Lynn's mom was our mortgage lender. A month or so after that I took a flying leap into the real estate business and soon became Lynn's Realtor. And that's how it all began.

I can confidently say, thinking back on the MANY clients I had over 11 years of selling real estate, Lynn was probably one of the most loyal and encouraging.

About 10 years ago, when ebay was just getting started, Lynn, having the great business mind that she does, expanded her grandma's business to the international world of ebay. She was able to sell so many of her grandma's antiques for a greater profit through ebay. I remember her repeatedly telling me I should sell on ebay. Over the years, I've sold many things, but just a couple here and there.

Fast forward to the present...Lynn and I met a couple weeks ago and just being around her is so encouraging. Her enthusiasm for ebay is infectious! I've been trying to think of ways to make a couple $$ to help buy some extras, pay for field trips, or treat myself to a new outfit now and then and the ebay thing seems to be the vehicle with which I can do it. And I can do it from home around our schedule.

So...I've opened an ebay store and am focusing on books (what I know) and/or cds. I may put on a few other things now and then, but books are easy to store and easy to ship.

Wish me blessing on this venture. The kids and I are trying to save for a trip to the east coast to culminate our year-long study of Colonial Life and I'd like to take them to Washington DC. I've never been and they're eager to see our country's capitol.

So, here's to Ebay!!