A Dilemma.....

I am facing a dilemma....I bought the bottom set of hot rollers a couple of weeks ago to resell. I use hot rollers. My hot rollers are the top set. They are a hundred years old....at least! I would like to just keep the new set for myself. The new set is nice but there is one thing against it....it doesn't have all the clips with it! It is missing the clips for the smaller rollers. If it had all the clips I wouldn't even think about keeping them. I know I can sell them even without the clips. I don't have enough clips with my old hot roller set. It would be nice to have more clips...I would have my old clips plus the new clips so I would probably have plenty of clips! And I would have a nice new set of rollers! But then again, I can make do with the old rollers and my few clips because we could really use the money right now! See the hard choice I have to make! :) I will probably go ahead and sell the new set. I paid $4.38 for them at Goodwill. I can probably sell them for $15. I've sold 2 sets of hot rollers in the past couple of months. I made $9.05 clear on one set and $13.19 on the other. I'd love to find a set of the Remington Tight Curls hot rollers. They go for pretty good on Ebay! When you stopped by I bet you never thought you'd hear so much about hot rollers and clips, did you?

I did sell a shirt today!

Paid $1.00 Sold for $6.95 plus $6.23 Shipping Profit $4.17 after fees

 

Didn't make a bundle on it but I've had it listed for quite awhile so it was good to see it go. I still have quite a few shirts to list....need to get on that!

 

Well, my daughter and I are going on an outing tomorrow! She wants to take me to lunch in the big city! I'm hoping we can find a stray yard sale or two along the way! If not there is always Goodwill! Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Hmmm....What to Write....

Well, I didn't have any sales today so I don't have any news or pictures to share. I also didn't go to the auction tonight so I don't have any pictures of what I might have bought. I tried to think of something thrilling that I could share but can't seem to think of a thing! Of course it is one in the morning and my brain is probably shutting down! It's been raining like crazy here today. I should have went to the auction but it was a nice night to stay home! I was behind on some things and worked on getting caught up, although I still need to catch up some more!

I really need to get more things listed. Once I get caught up on the couple of things that are weighing on me then I'm going to try to get really busy and list like crazy!

Hopefully I will have more to share tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Things to Sell....

Well, no sales today either! I did have a lady ask me about my half gallon jars and how many I had so we'll see if she ends up buying some. Last week the lady that wanted 24 quart jars never did follow through!

I heard that blank cassette tapes sell well and I have had these around forever from long ago so I decided to list them tonight. We'll see how long they take to sell.

I'm thinking about going to an auction tomorrow night. They look like they might have a few good things. Part of me wants to go and then part of me wants to just stay home and list the stuff that I already have! Since yard sales are about done I figure I might have to rely on the auctions to get some inventory but right now I still have plenty to list. I guess I'll see how tomorrow goes!

I'm sorry I don't have lots of wonderful sales to report! Maybe tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Went shopping...

I found these at Goodwill tonight. There are 5 of them. They are metal trays. Does anyone know anything about them? I tried to find them on Ebay and I found some that are called "toleware". I didn't know what that meant so I typed it in Google and came up with this...."In the collectibles and antique industry, toleware refers to kitchen-related objects created from metal, typically tin or thin steel, and are often in decorative styles such as Arts and Crafts and Pennsylvania Dutch. Decorative painting on these items is common but not necessary."....so I guess I answered my own question! I did sell some that were yellow on Etsy a couple of years ago, but I think I had them quite awhile and sold both of them for $5.00. I just did a search on Ebay and came up with this sold listing of something similar. Eight of them for $20.00. I paid 88 cents each for my 5 so that is $4.40...I'd like to try to make at least $10 profit so I might put them up for BIN $15.00 at least. Or maybe I will sell 2 on Etsy and 3 on Ebay...what do you think is best?

I also bought this butter dish:

The Old Curiosity Shop....I paid $1.38 for it at Goodwill. I wasn't sure whether or not to buy it but I thought it was neat. There are no sold listings for one like this right now but there are several for sale starting at $17.99 all the way up to $94.95! Mine does have some crazing on the plate part and since I didn't pay much for it I  might just offer it for $16.95....or should I ask for more? It's all a guessing game for me. I do research and try to find a middle ground for my pricing. I don't have a lot of storage space so I want to move things out fast....plus we need the money!

 

I also bought a mens shirt tonight that I will try to list in the next day or so. That about sums up my shopping trip! Went to 2 Goodwills but only found items I wanted at one.

 

No sales today to report. I did have a case opened on me though. A lady from the Dominican Republic had bought a cookie press kit from me on October 15th. She still hasn't received it and instead of contacting me first, she opens a case on Ebay! She just wants to know when to expect it. I looked up the tracking info and it says it was processed through the Chicago sort facility and then that's it! And that was on the 18th so it has been 10 days and no update. I sent her a message saying that I think it can take a few weeks for international shipping but I will try to keep her updated. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the hassle to sell internationally. Also, this person has zero feedback so apparently I am her first sale on Ebay. So fun....! The cookie press sold for $22.50 and shipping was $26.65 for a total of $49.15 that's being held out of my Paypal account. Is there a way to block buyers with less than say a 50 feedback score? I need to look into that....especially for international buyers. I only paid 75 cents for that cookie press but man....if I have to refund $26.65 for shipping that's going to stink!

 

Well, I'm going to try to hit the hay at least a little bit earlier tonight. Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Whew!

It's one in the morning and I just got these 5 packages finished up and ready to go! I got a late start tonight and now I'm really dragging! The box has the mirror in it that I sold yesterday. When I use a box it's usually one I've found in a grocery store or from a package I've gotten so I like to wrap them up in pretty paper to mail them. That way it hides any ugliness from the box and people hopefully feel like they are getting something special in the mail!

The other packages are things that I sold today:

 Paid $2.00 Sold for $20 plus $2.53 shipping - after fees and shipping I made $14.22

 

 178 Wine Corks - paid 50 cents - Sold for $10.50 plus $9.98 shipping - cleared $7.61

 

 15 Vintage Photographs - paid $2.00 - Sold for $14.50 w/free shipping - cleared $8.21

 

15 Pearl Buttons - cost was about 25 cents - Sold for $4.50 plus $2.75 shipping - cleared $4.04

 

 

Well, that's about it for now....I've got to get to bed!!! Thanks so much for stopping by! ~~Pam

Mirror, Mirror....

Hello! Today I heard the wonderful "ca-ching" sound on my phone indicating that I had sold something! It was this antique round mirror. I paid $2.00 for it and sold it for $30.00! I have seen some similar to this one sell for quite a bit more but this one does have a few flaws so I kept it at a lower price. It is unique...and heavy!

I went back to yesterdays yard sale where I found the embroidered tea towels hoping to get the ones that she had with the days of the week on them. After researching those on Ebay I saw that some sets were going from $30-$60! Unfortunately she only had 3 left so I don't have a whole set but maybe someone will need a certain day to complete their set so I will list them individually. I still haven't listed the ones yet that I put on here yesterday! Too much to do!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day! ~~Pam

One Yard Sale!

Today my daughter and I headed to the one yard sale here in town! I was hoping it would be a good one and it was pretty good! The lady had 2 boxes full of tea towels that her mother had embroidered while in the nursing home. Now her mom is gone and she's selling these for 50 cents each. It's kind of sad really. She did beautiful work on them. I had 27 picked out so it would have been $13.50 and I asked her if she would take $10 and she did. Then I ended up picking out 3 more so I spent $15 on tea towels! Here's a couple of more sets that I took pictures of tonight.

 

Aren't they lovely? I have lots more that I need to get pictures of too. I'm just wondering if these would do better in my Etsy shop or on Ebay.....what do you think?

I also bought this Remote Control Caddy still new in the box for $1.00! I just looked on Ebay and one sold for $10 and another sold for $15 so not too shabby! I'll have to hurry up and get it listed!

My 15 yr. old daughter got a free T.V. at the same sale! It's just a small one but she's been wanting one so she was happy to get it!

I found this breakfast tray at Goodwill for $2.38. I'm hoping to paint it and distress it and add some kind of vintage graphic to it to make it look neat. I will show the finished product when I get it done!

Today I sold this cute little baby boy outfit that I found a few months ago for $2.00. Only sold it for $8.00 plus $3.48 shipping. After fees, packaging and shipping I cleared $4.09.

 

Well, that's it for now.  Have a great day! ~~Pam
Linking up to Sir Thrift a Lot

 

Jeans

Hello! Today I had 4 orders to get ready for the Post Office. The 3 things I sold yesterday plus these Silver jeans that I sold today. I had a "Buy It Now" price on them of $25. A lady offered $15 and I counter offered $20. She bought them and I mailed them out! My sister had bought these at a bag sale for me to sell so they didn't cost me anything. I cleared $16.79 after fees!

My husband is still looking for a job. Had an interview today at a factory for a fork truck driver. They only pay $12/hr. The hours were good...straight days, but the pay....we still have 5 kids at home! We need that much an hour to just buy food, gas, sundries and medicines! Hoping he can find something that pays at least $20/hr. and I hope it's soon!

So...on that note, I really need to get busy listing more things! I have lots of stuff to sell...just need to find the time and get it listed! I looked at the paper for yard sales for tomorrow but there's only a few. Not sure if I want to even go out...we'll see how I feel in the morning!

Thanks for stopping by...have a great day! ~~Pam

Sold 3 Items Today!

Today I woke up to a sale on my Etsy shop. Awhile back I bought a box full of old silverware for $5.00. These 10 forks were just a small part of that box. Sold them for $10.00 plus shipping. I figured these forks would have cost me 50 cents. (jar was not included in listing!)

These old canisters remind me of an old country kitchen. It thought they might sell sooner than they did but it took a few months. Sold these in my Etsy shop later in the day for $15.95 plus shipping. They cost me $4.00.

This afternoon I listed 3 shirts on Ebay. This evening I sold one of them:

 

 

It's a Tommy Hilfiger. Paid $1.69 at Goodwill. Sold it for $12.50 plus shipping. When things sell quickly I always figure maybe I could have gotten more for it but maybe it wouldn't have sold so quickly either. I like to keep things moving and also get money back in our pockets!

 

I washed a ton of blue jars up today and got a few pictures of different sets of them. Still haven't heard from the lady that wanted 24 quarts...hope she hasn't changed her mind!

 

Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

One Sale Today

Hello! Hope everyone had a good day! It was rainy and yucky out today but it was nice and cozy inside! I made homemade chicken soup and 30 minute dinner rolls for supper...yummy!

I sold the porcelain and metal vintage doorknobs tonight. My mom was having a yard sale a few weeks ago and was going to sell all of these for $1.00! I told her I could get more than that so she just let me have them. I started them at $10 and only got a few bids and sold them for $15.00. I was thinking I would get a little more than that but I cleared $12.47 after shipping and fees. Not too bad since they didn't cost me anything!

I still haven't finalized the deal on the lady wanting 24 jars. I'm hoping she will let me know for sure soon. Since we spent $110 on jars yesterday I would like to re-coup that money as fast as possible!

Have a great day!  ~~Pam

Not much to report...

I didn't actually sell anything today. :( I did however have a lady ask me if I had 24 blue Ball quart jars to sell. I didn't think I did but I counted up what I had and figured I had about 16. Well just a little while later a woman called me about my ad in the local electric company newspaper and said she had 82 jars....would I want them? Why yes, I would! I advertise for old blue or green canning jars and pay $1.00 each for them. The great thing was that she lived just a few miles from me so we went and picked them right up! While we were in town another lady called whom I had bought from before and said she found 19 more so we picked those up on the way back home! The first lady had some clear jars with the wire handles and glass lids too so I paid $10 more for what she had so I spent $110 total on jars today! Now hopefully the lady that wanted 24 won't change her mind! I told her I had them and then she wanted to know if I'd give a discount since she was getting so many and they are on a tight budget! I said I might be able to give a little bit of a discount but that since my husband has been out of work for almost 2 months we are on a tight budget too! I haven't heard back from her so I hope I didn't scare her off! I hated to give up $110 when we are down to our last nickels but if I can sell 24 jars right away that would be $144....well, depends if I give her a discount or not...it won't be more than a $10 discount....anyway, I sell the quart jars for $6 each. There are 7 half gallon jars and I usually can sell them for $9-10 each and then there are quite a few pints, which I sell for between $7-$9. So, that $110 can end up making me over $700....I just hope they sell fairly quickly!

 

I was checking Ebay out today to see what jars are selling for on there. Since the lady that contacted me was wanting 24 jars I thought I would just type in "24 blue Ball jars" on Ebay and see what came up. Imagine my surprise when the picture above came up! This is "MY" picture! I use it all the time in my Etsy shop! For a second I was wondering if I had listed on Ebay and forgotten! Then I clicked on the listing and the person had even used a lot of my wording that I used in my listings! I was kind of irked that someone would steal my picture! They said they were selling jars that they had used in their wedding so then I wondered if they might have bought them from me. I ended up contacting them and they had indeed bought them from me earlier in the year. I had said that I would have appreciated being asked to use the picture first but since they had bought the jars from me I would go ahead and let them use it. They probably wonder why I would care but it's kind of a "signature" thing I guess. I've used that picture or some like it for the past 2-3 or more years! Of course after looking at other pictures on Ebay of blue jars I can understand why they would want to use this one! It just seems "prettier" than most others! :) Oh well, no big deal I guess. If they had been any ol' person that was just stealing my picture though I probably would have reported it to Ebay. What would you have done?

Weekend Away...

We just got back from a little 2 day jaunt north of here. It was a refreshing weekend! While away I did sell a couple of things in my Etsy vintage shop!

Sold for $12.00 plus $12.95 shipping - Paid $3.00 for all 3.

Don't ya just love the color of these pans? I should have just kept them for myself! I sold them for $16.00. I only paid $1.00 for both!

Sold for $15.00 plus $18.95 shipping. Paid $6.00 for these.

 

I haven't had time to get the orders ready and the postage printed and fees figured so I'm not sure how much I will actually clear on these items. The clear jars usually don't sell for as much as the blue ones. The Liberty jars took quite awhile to sell.

 

Well, I'm exhausted so heading off to bed! Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Football Hero....

Hello! I just sold this little guy tonight after having him listed for a couple of months! I found him at a yard sale for 50 cents! When you push a spot on his wrist he "sings" "We Will Rock You" and walks around! I thought for sure it would be a hot item for the football enthusiast but he just wouldn't sell. I finally lowered the price to $9.95 plus shipping. After fees and packing I cleared $8.43. It was a slow day today...only this one sale.  Have a good day!

Today's Sales - $68.45

 

Last Friday I bought this set of Encyclopedias of the Animal World at a sale for $5.00. They have lots of colorful pictures in them. They sold today for $37.50! I haven't gotten them packaged up yet so not sure of my profit quite yet but I would say it's close to $30.00.

 





I've had this talking Barney listed for a few weeks and he finally sold today. I bought him at Goodwill for 88 cents. Sold him for $15.95.

In my Etsy shop I sold this blue Ball #13 jar for $15.00. I paid $1.00 for it. I've sold a few of these so far. They have the #13 on the bottom. Supposedly back when these were made people would break the #13 jars because they were superstitious so they are supposed to be rather rare. Not sure if that story is true or not but I've gotten an awful lot of jars over the past few years and I've probably only had around 5 or 6 of these. So...always look at the bottom of the jar!

Thanks for stopping by!

Today's Sales

Last Friday I bought this Poloroid One Step camera and accessories for $1.00 at a yard sale! I listed it late last night and it sold for $35.00 at about 2:18 in the morning! I cleared $30.44 on it! I love it when I can buy something with such a low cost and then turn it around and sell it for quite a bit more! And then to sell it so quickly is really nice too! It's nice to keep things moving!

 

 

I also sold these 3 vintage doilies for $4.00 plus shipping. I only paid 5 cents each for them! I made $3.02 clear on them.

 

Well, I'm off to bed! I'm totally exhausted right now. Maybe because I had a tooth pulled today! Yikes! Thanks for stopping by! 

A Busier Day!

Well, I listed 1 new item on my Etsy DownVintageLane shop and re-listed 5 other things. I ended up selling an old silver pitcher that I paid $1.00 for this summer!

I sold it for $20 plus $11.50 shipping. After fees and packaging I cleared $18.06 on it! Not too shabby!

 

On Ebay I sold an old cookie press that I found for 75 cents a couple of weeks ago. I sold it to someone in the Dominican Republic for $22.50 and she had to pay $26.65 shipping!

I just listed it last night and sold it tonight! Cleared $21.34.

 

This next item is called a "Caboodle" makeup case. I had read that they sell good on Ebay and yesterday I saw this one at Goodwill for $2.38! I listed it last night for $34.95 "Buy it Now" and it sold tonight! The lady paid by echeck so I won't be able to figure the exact profit till Monday when it clears but I'd say I probably made $30.00 clear on it!

 



 

 

I love finding new blogs that help me know what to look for that will sell well. I need all the help I can get! I will have to put some of the blogs I've found on my sidebar so others can see them as well!

 

I did get 4 new things listed on Ebay tonight. I was trying for the 5th one but then the pictures wouldn't upload again. There must be some glitch on Ebay lately with the pictures. Anyway, have  good day! 

 



My Goals.....

The goals I listed yesterday did not happen! I did list 3 new items on Ebay and then re-listed 2 that hadn't sold so I guess I made my 5 for Ebay. I would have gotten 2 more new listings up but Ebay seems to have some kind of problems with pictures lately. I relisted 2 things in my Etsy vintage shop and nothing in my button shop. Too many things come up during the day and it just seems like the time flies!

I sold the little Avon Parakeet shown above. A couple of weeks ago I bought probably 50 Avon decanters for 10 cents each. I know most don't sell for a ton but even if it's just a few bucks I figure every little bit helps! I sold this one for $5.00 and $3.33 shipping. My profit after fees and packaging costs was $3.99. I guess if I made $3.99 on 50 Avon bottles then I would make $199.50....nothing to sneeze at!

I will try to make my goal Tuesday for 5 Ebay listings, 3 DownVintageLane listings and 3 ButtonCrazy listings. I need to so I can make some money to pay the dentist! I have a tooth that's bothering me and I found out today that I either need a root canal or have it pulled. The dentist actually said there's not much tooth left to work with and he thought having it pulled would be a better idea. Since my husband lost his job, we don't have dental insurance right now so I guess I will have it pulled. That will cost $205....yikes! So, I better get busy! Have a great day!

Packing Up Orders!

Tonight I am working on getting a few orders packaged up. One of them is this cute puppy cake pan from Wilton Cake Decorating. I paid $2.00 for it. After doing some research on Ebay for a price to list it for I ended up listing it for $8.95. I don't have a lot of room to store my inventory so I would rather let something go for a little less and keep things moving out than have it sit around here forever! Shipping costs for buyer were $8.76. After fees and packaging materials my final profit is $7.17. I did make a little on the shipping this time. I usually charge for the parcel select which is the least expensive shipping but sometimes it ends up cheaper to ship by Priority Mail! I think it depends on what zone you're shipping to...if it's the same zone you're in then the Priority is usually the best choice.

I also packaged up the mirror that I mentioned in yesterdays post. I cleared $7.35 on that. The other package I got ready was this lot of vintage metal buttons:

I made a profit on them of $6.27. A couple of weeks ago I was at a sale and bought quite a few things. I had seen a round laundry basket half full of button cards and baggies of old buttons. I love buttons! I love selling buttons! She didn't have a price on them but I figured she'd want quite a bit so when I was paying for my other things I asked her how much she wanted for the buttons. She said "what would you give me?"...well, I didn't know what to say...I didn't want to pay any more than $10 for them but I figured she's want at least $20. I hem hawed around and said "$5.00?" and she said, "That's do-able!"!!!! So she got the buttons and bagged them up for me! I was thrilled!  I listed my first set which consisted of 50 vintage cards that had all of the buttons on them. This was the set:

I listed them on Ebay at auction starting at $10.00. I sold them for $17.50 plus $3.83 shipping. After fees and taking off the whole purchase price of $5.00 I made a profit of $10.01! Now I figure when I list the rest of the buttons I already have paid the cost of the buttons so I should do pretty good on the rest! I have lots more to list!

My goal for Monday is to list 5 things on Ebay, 3 things on DownVintageLane and 3 sets of buttons on ButtonCrazy. I hope to update late Monday night saying that I accomplished my goal! Have a good day!

Mirrors....

Vanity mirrors like this one seem to be a good item to sell on Ebay. Last week I sold one for $9.95 within a day of listing it. This week I listed the one above and thought I'd add a couple of dollars to the price tag and I sold it a couple of days after listing it for $12.00! I paid $2..00 for this one. I have 2 more to offer so I need to get busy with pictures and get them listed! I try to figure on making at least $10 on most items that I sell. Of course when I can I aim a lot higher! Big ticket items are harder to find though so if I can sell lots of smaller things then it all adds up!

I haven't had a lot of time to list the past few days but hopefully Sunday night I can get some new listings up. I will let you know how that goes! Have a good day!

Some of My Best Sales from September

In September my "take-home" pay was $790.82 after taking off what the items cost me, fees, supplies and shipping. Not too shabby but I sure would like to increase that number! Like by at least a thousand! My hubby still has not found steady work so it would help out if I could do better.  Here's where I made the money:
     Ebay - $363.22
     Etsy (downvintagelane) - $418.56
     Etsy (buttoncrazy) - $9.04
I sold 66 jars in my vintage shop on Etsy! That seems to be where I make the most money. I advertise for blue jars and will pay $1.00 each for them. Living where there are a lot of old farmers helps...they have the old jars just sitting in their basements or garages collecting dust and I take them off their hands and give them a little to boot! Then if I can sell them for anywhere from $5-10 each it sure helps out! Here's one I got in box of regular jars that got me excited:

 

It's a wide-mouth Ball Special pint size jar. I sold it with a zinc lid on Ebay for $36.99! Not too bad for spending a dollar to begin with! I sold another one like it a month ago for $23.50 so they are something to watch for!

 

Here are some highlights from September:

 

 

Pyrex Nesting Bowls - Paid $10 and sold them that night for "Buy it Now" $35.00 and $16.02 shipping. After fees and a little loss on the cost of shipping I cleared $13.93. Kind of disappointing as you would think I would make $25 on them but just the fees were $6.37! Then the cost of bubble wrap and wrapping paper was $3.30 so it all adds up!

 

 

2 Old Atlas Coffee Jars - Paid $2.00 and sold them for $26.55 plus $10.79 shipping. After fees and everything I cleared $18.64.

 

 

Nintendo system and games - My daughter bought this so it cost me nothing....sold it for $60.00 plus $12.79 shipping - cleared $53.53!!

 

 

So those were just a few of the better deals I had.  I will try to keep up with updating through October. I keep debating whether to have a blog or not because of the time factor so that's why I haven't been writing! Thanks for stopping by!