Crazy Things to Sell and Making Money on Cleaning Up!

A couple of months ago I decided to clean out a couple of spots in my den...aka eBay/Etsy office. In the bottom of one of our bookcases I had designated a spot for my little girls art supplies and general fun stuff. She always loved to get in there and color, draw, paint, play with stickers, etc....but now, she's not such a "little" girl anymore. She's almost 11. She likes to play on her tablet...and the computer.......ugh. 😩 Anyway, I cleaned out the cupboard. She had lots of crayons.....and more crayons....and on top of that I had crayons! Broken crayons! Crayons that I thought I would someday melt down and pour into some kind of cute molds and then sell them on Etsy! (thanks Pinterest!) Oh boy....so I looked up broken crayons on eBay...I figured if there was such a craft as melting down crayons and making new fun crayons, then somebody out there might want to buy mine! I was right! I had almost 8 pounds of crayons! Six little baggies of 90 each for a total of 540 whole crayons plus half of a gallon size freezer bag that had broken crayons and also some whole crayons. I listed them a few days ago for $34.95 with free shipping. They fit in a medium priority flat rate box. After fees and shipping I made $18.59 profit on them! Just on something that was sitting around gathering dust! That was my "crazy things to sell" item!

Then I had lots of markers, crayons, colored pencils, coloring books, beads, papers and other fun stuff. I decided to make a gift basket for a little girl with everything. I had the pink heart gift basket bag on hand forever, already had the basket that I used so everything came together nicely! I probably didn't make much per hour on this because I did spend a little bit of time on it but I sold it on Facebook for $15.00. That's money that I didn't have before and it was better than just throwing all the stuff away, which I was tempted to do!

After I was done cleaning out her space I decided to clean out a cupboard of mine! It's a double door cupboard/bookcase type of thing that I keep my shipping supplies in, plus some buttons, plus some scrapbooking stuff....plus other junk! It was a mess! I used to make handmade cards....in fact that was my first shop on Etsy! I haven't had any cards in it for a few years but you can see my sold listings here.....wow, I just looked and the last card I sold was 4 1/2 years ago! I didn't realize it had been that long! I just don't have time to do all the things I like to do! So yeah, I had collected lots of card-making supplies.....like stickers! I had a basket full of them. I sorted them all out and took pictures and sold them on Facebook for $20.00! The person that got them got a really good deal as there were lots there but I knew I just would never get around to doing anything with them.

Next I had 2 different kits that I had started years ago. I used to see these really neat scrapbook/photo books that people made with lots of different papers and stickers and embellishments. I wanted to do one for a baby boy and another for a school album. I had collected lots of different things for both but alas....I never got around to that either! (Can you tell that I love to start things but can never seem to finish them? 😳 !!) So I sold both kits for $10 each on Facebook too.

So, all in all, I ended up making $73.59 for that days work. Not tons of money but not too bad either! I could have just boxed it all up and sent it to Goodwill but I figured I might as well make the money instead of them! I still have a lot of cardmaking supplies that I need to sort through and sell. I still want to keep some of the stuff but I definitely don't need all that I have.

What crazy thing have you sold lately? Have you made money on "cleaning up" around the house?

Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Quick Post - What Sold Today

Paid $5.00 - Sold for $37.50 - Profit $26.63

Just a quick "what sold" post....bought these 24 American Girl books a couple of weeks ago for $5.00. The lady originally had $1.00 each on them but just offered them all to me for five bucks! Why yes, I'll take those!

I also sold 3 pair of jeans today to 3 different people. I paid $1.00 each for them. Two of them were womens Lee jeans and after doing some research I realized they don't sell for a whole lot. Most were selling for around $8 when I looked. I priced mine at $9.95. The other pair were mens Levi's and I sold them for $14.95. I ended up making $30.11 profit after shipping and fees and cost of items.

Well, that's about it for now. Thanks for stopping by....gotta go! ~~Pam

Speaking of buttons....last night I sold 20 sets to the same person! Now that was a thrill! :) The order totaled $101.35! That was really nice! Most of the time I sell just one set, which I definitely don't get rich off of! Sometimes I sell a few sets and that's always a lot nicer. This order was great! Now I really need to get busy listing more buttons!

Tomorrow we are having a graduation party for our daughter, our 6th child. Actually, her and her sister are the ones having the party. They're doing most all the work! She figures there will be around 200 people...maybe more. They are fixing the food and having a dance. It should be fun! Today they made over 400 cupcakes and frosted them all.

All cupcakes are not shown in these pictures! They also made potato salad using 60 pounds of potatoes and 10 dozen eggs! They had a couple of friends to help but they spent several hours doing all the work and even cleaning up pretty good after themselves! I'm glad they can do it cuz I sure can't anymore! I used to be able to do that kind of stuff but I just don't have it in me anymore! Getting older and too many aches and pains!  Anyway, it ought to be fun! The menu is sloppy joes, potato salad, green bean casserole and cupcakes. They tried to keep it as simple and cost effective as possible. I'll let you know how it goes!

Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

A Little Experiment

These buttons are headed to Italy today! The lady paid $13.33 for shipping for a 4 ounce package! The buttons were $7.50. I have been trying to up my price on buttons a little bit here and there. I used to just charge $4.95 for a set like this but these were a little more unique so I charged accordingly. I see others on Etsy charging more than I do and then I see some charging less. It's a fine line to try to figure it all out!

35 Metal Buttons

Cost - probably a quarter - Sold for $7.50 plus shipping - Profit $6.12

I know a lot of people wouldn't want to mess with selling buttons but for some reason I really enjoy sorting them and making little packages for them. I think it's kind of a calming thing. Here's an example of how I package most of my buttons.

Anyway, I've been so busy trying to sell on eBay that the past few months I hadn't spent much time listing any new buttons. I have lots of buttons....so I wanted to try to list more and see if I could sell more. Of course we all know that the more we list, the more we sell, and it worked with my buttons too! In June and July I only had around 450 views in my button shop for each month. I only had 2 and 3 orders for each month too which totaled about $33 for both months. I started trying to add more listings and in August I had 811 views and 9 orders totaling $64.80. September was 856 views and 12 orders totaling $86.45. October has about doubled that. I had 1550 views for the month, 23 orders of 36 sets of buttons for a total of $186.75! My goal has been that I would like to sell at least $50/week of buttons. I know that's not a lot but every little bit helps! That would be $2600 a year! It doesn't take a lot of time to list them or pack them up either. I'm hoping to increase that number as time goes on. I wish I had some really, really neat buttons! I have some nice buttons but I've seen some sell on eBay for quite a bit of money. Makes me wonder where they get them and how much they might pay for them. Check out this sellers sold listings. They have beautiful, unique buttons and it looks like they do really well on them! I'd love to find some like theirs!

So, I need to up my eBay listings as I'm sure I would make way more on those things than on buttons! But, I do enjoy the buttons so I will most likely keep listing them too.

Here are my stats for October:

eBay - Sold 31 items for $630.21 - listed 33 items

Down Vintage Lane Etsy shop - 4 orders of jars (10 jars total) for $87.85 - listed 8 items

ButtonCrazy Etsy shop - 23 orders of 36 sets for $186.75 - listed 70 sets

Facebook - Sold 5 items for $65.00 - listed 5 things

Total gross income - $969.81 -    116 total new items listed

After fees, shipping, supplies, cost of new items to sell, storage unit and miscellaneous I figure I made approximately $519.84 profit. Definitely want to increase that number. I need to figure out some solution to managing my time better I guess. Although I think I probably just have way too many demands on my time and I can only do so much! I do have good intentions!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and listening to my ramblings! Have a great day! ~~Pam

Dollhouses

A few months ago I bought a Playskool dollhouse at a yard sale for $15. I knew I wouldn't want to try to ship the big house but I also knew that the dolls and furniture were worth something! I ended up putting the dollhouse on Facebook for $20 to at least make a few dollars extra plus then the person could pick it up and I wouldn't have to ship it!

Paid $15 - Sold for $20 - Profit $5.00

I then sold the furniture that came with it for $14.95 on eBay. I probably should have listed it for more.

Already paid for - Sold for $14.95 - Profit $10.73

Next came the best part.....I sold the dolls!

Already paid for - Sold for $35.00 - Profit $30.35

Then I found another dollhouse just like the first one. I also paid $15 for it. Sold it and the furniture that came with it for $30 on Facebook so I made $15.00 profit. Then I sold the people and car that came with it.

Already paid for - Sold for $34.95 - Profit $30.69

I also realized that I had forgotten to put the railings on the first dollhouse so I listed those as replacement parts.

Already paid for - Sold for $14.95 - Profit $12.55

So, I paid $30 for the 2 dollhouses and accessories. I sold everything for $149.85 and made $104.32 profit! I see some listings where people sell the house and everything with it but it just seemed easier for me to piece it all out and sell the houses right here at home for easy pickup. I have an old Victorian dollhouse that my sister-in-law gave me to sell. Still need to take pictures of it.

Have any of you sold dollhouses? Which way did you list it?

Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Sale of the Week

I know, it's been over a month since I've posted! Time goes so fast and life is soooo busy! Just thought I'd put up a quick post of my best sale for the past week! Found this milk glass rooster at a yard sale for $3.00. Researched it on eBay and at the time there was only one other one and it had sold for around $50. I don't remember how I came up with selling it for $69.95 but that's what I listed it for and it sold! It took a few weeks but it's so fun to sell something for that much more than what you paid for it! I just looked at how much others have sold for in the past few weeks here and some went for the asking price of $50. A few put theirs up for auction and got $20-$45. Anyway, just a quick post! Have a great day! ~~Pam

Imperial Milk Glass Rooster

Paid $3.00 - Sold for $69.95 + $16.22 shipping

  Profit after cost of item,

fees, shipping and supplies - $54.44

September 25th Update!

Hello! Finally stopping by with a little update! I've had a pretty good past 60 days selling. Always trying to do more but it seems hard to make the time! Here are a few of my better sales in the past month.

I bought a Dollhouse that came with furniture and these dolls. I paid $15 for all of it. I finally sold the dollhouse on Facebook because I didn't want to hassle with trying to ship such a big thing! I sold the dollhouse for $20 so I made my money back plus $5 to boot! Then I sold the lot of furniture for $14.95 and made $10.73 profit on that after fees. So I was up to $15.73 profit and then I listed these dolls and sold them for $35 with a profit of $30.35 for a total profit on the dollhouse and stuff with it of $46.08! Not too bad!

Lot of 14 Loving Family Dolls

Sold for $35.00 - Profit $30.35

Love this green fluted desk lamp!

Green Fluted Desk Lamp

Paid $2.00 - Sold for $24.95 - Profit $15.74

Old VHS tapes still sell...eventually! These had been listed awhile but I made out pretty good on them!

                                   

                                                    Classic Television Set of VHS Tapes

Paid $1.00 - Sold for $21.00 - Profit $16.97

A few weeks ago I made out pretty good at some yard sales when I found quite a few pair of jeans and overalls for $1.00 each! I was able to put some in lots that were the same size which really helped with the profit! Here are a few of the better deals!

2 Pair Men's WORK N SPORT Blue Denim Overalls

Paid $2.00 - Sold for $39.95 - Profit $31.98

3 Pair Lees Dungarees

Paid $3.00 - Sold for $44.95 - Profit $35.41

Went to yard sales this past Friday and found some good deals that I have to take pictures of and get listed this week. Hopefully I can get them done before Friday and more yard sales!

Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Weekly Update!

Hello! Just thought I'd stop by with some of my sales for the past week. Seems like I'm selling pretty good for me. Always hoping for better though! I am way under where I should be on my listing goals and yet it seems like I'm always sitting here trying to list! Anyway, here are my stats for the week of August 8-14th. and some of my eBay sales:

Ebay Store:

Items in store: 396                          

Sold: 12                                           

Cost of items sold: $25.64              

Total Sales - $288.45                     

Highest price sold - $44.95            

Average price sold - $24.03          

Returns - 0                                        

Cost of new inventory - $19.25      

New items listed - 11  

Etsy - DownVintageLane

Sold 1 item - $9.50

Listed 1 item

Etsy - ButtonCrazy

Sold 2 sets of buttons - $9.50

Listed 16 sets

I always try to pick up hot rollers when I see them. This past week I sold 3 sets in a 24 hour period!

Hot Rollers

Paid $5.00 - Sold for $29.95 - Profit $20.80

Hot Rollers

Paid $3.88 - Sold for $21.95 - Profit $11.41

Hot Rollers

Paid $5.00 - Sold for $29.95 - Profit $20.11

Womens Skechers Hiking Boots

Paid $3.00 - Sold for $39.95 - Profit $30.24

This next pair of Nike shoes were a gift from my sister....she probably found them at a yard sale and I'm not sure how much she paid for them but knowing her (she's like me when it comes to this stuff) it probably wasn't more than a couple of bucks! (thank you Naomi!)

Nike Golf Shoes

Paid - 0

Sold for $39.95 - Profit $35.24

Samsonite Train Case

Paid $1.88 - Sold for $24.95 - Profit $19.75

Sometimes I just gotta get the cheaper things even when I know I won't make a ton...like these napkin rings. Not a whole lot of profit but every little bit helps! Sometimes I feel like I would be throwing money away if I don't go ahead and get it to sell! And these are easy to pack up and ship!

Hexagon Wood Napkin Rings

Paid $1.00 - Sold for $9.95 - Profit $7.89

This wood silverware organizer was a gift from my sister but it didn't fit in my drawer! I was just going to take it to Goodwill but thought I'd look it up on eBay and decided to sell it!

Drawer Organizer

Paid - 0 - Sold for $14.95 - Profit $12.39

Ladies Tommy Hilfiger Shorts

Paid $2.00 - Sold for $12.95 - Profit $9.13

So, that's about it! Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Selling Jeans

Hello Everyone! Just thought I'd talk about selling jeans for a minute. Last Friday hubby and I went to several yard sales. The first one we stopped at had lots of jeans to look through. They had their yard sale the day before and it had rained overnight so everything was kind of drippy and wet! She had lots of jeans to choose from. I've sold some jeans here and there and really didn't think I wanted to mess with it too much. I mean, if you just sell one pair at a time, depending on the jeans, it just might not be worth the trouble, depending how much you paid for them. Anyway, she only wanted a dollar a pair! The ones I bought were all in very good condition and there were lots of them the same size so I figured I could put them in lots of 2 or 3 and it would pay off quicker. I only ended up buying 11 pair because everything was just kind of a mess there. Now I wish I would have just taken the time to look through more. The picture above shows 3 pair of Levi's jean shorts in size 32. I sold them a couple of days after listing for $44.95. They cost me $3.00. After fees I made $36.89 profit! Not too bad for something pretty easy to list and ship! Even if I would have had to pay $5.88/pair at Goodwill I figure I could have made about $22.00 profit. I think I might just be on the lookout for sets of 3 of the same size and brand and see what happens! What do you think? Are jeans worth selling? Do you sell them separately or in groups?

Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

August Update!

Hello everyone! So, it's been a couple of months since my last post....of course. Seems like it's hard to find the time, as usual! I've had a pretty good week this past week, for me anyway. I've really been trying to list more here lately and I think that's helped. I thought it'd be fun to post my numbers like others do so here goes: This is for the week of August 1st thru August 7th

Ebay Store:                                   

Items in store: 392                          

Sold: 9                                           

Cost of items sold: $18.52               

Total Sales - $265.71                       

Highest price sold - $62.50              

Average price sold - $29.52            

Returns - 0                                        

Cost of new inventory - $25.19       

New items listed - 17                      

Etsy Buttoncrazy:
Items in store: 151
Sold: 4    

Cost of items sold: $1.00
Total Sales - $17.25
Highest Price sold - $4.75
Average Price sold - $4.31
Returns - 0  
Cost of new inventory - 0
New items listed - 7

Etsy DownVintageLane
Items in store: 74
Sold: 2
Cost of items sold: $6.00
Total Sales - $36.95
Highest Sold - $30.00
Returns - 0
Cost of new - 0
New items listed - 2

So there you have it. I am really happy with the eBay numbers. In July I only sold 24 things for a total of $434.91. Today is the 8th and I've sold 10 items (just sold something!) for a total of $308.65 so I'm hopeful that I will far surpass last months totals. I'm going to try really hard!

As for my button shop on Etsy, I've been trying to list more this month. It's been pretty neglected for quite awhile and I have soooooooo many buttons that I need to get listed! I will probably never get them all listed but if I can just start getting even $50/week from buttons it would be nice! I love sorting them....it's just kind of a calming thing to do! It's also fun to see what really neat buttons I find in the piles that I have! I've been keeping track of some numbers for the past couple of weeks to see if listing more is helping and of course it is. On July 22nd my views for the past week were at 92 views. Yesterday my views for the past week were 147! I also have had 3 orders of 5 pkgs. of buttons since July 22nd. I'm hoping that I can get things to really pick up soon. I know I'll never make a fortune on the buttons but it's just something that I love to do!

My vintage shop on Etsy is slow going lately. I'm running out of blue jars! Those are definitely my money maker in that shop. I did sell 5 clear pint jars over the weekend and then some jello molds too.

My goal for the rest of this month is to list 5 a day on eBay, 5 pkgs. of buttons a day on Etsy and 1 new vintage item in my Etsy vintage shop. We'll see how it goes!

Here are some of my good sales on eBay this past week!

2 Mary Poppins Collectable Plates

Paid $3.76 - Sold for $69.90 - Profit $55.14

Homer Laughlin Wheat Glasses & Caddy

Paid $2.00 - Sold for $49.95 - Profit $39.56

Skechers Shoes

Paid $4.88 - Sold for $62.50 - Profit $48.79

Skechers Sandals

Paid $5.00 - Sold for $25.00 - Profit $16.17

Pearl Button Cutter

Paid $1.00? - Sold for $17.50 - Profit $13.73 

10 Vintage Dresser Handles

Paid $1.00 - Sold for $19.95 - Profit $16.43

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a great evening! ~~Pam

Need Your Help!

So, I bought these shoes at a yard sale a few weeks ago and have been trying to find some like it on eBay and haven't been able to! They are Air Jordans and it looks to me like they have the original Air Jordan Wings Logo on the tongue. I couldn't find any that have it on the tongue and maybe it doesn't mean anything but I'd like to know if these are maybe worth a bit more or not. The date on the inside says 2009. They are in pretty good used condition...just some staining on the bottoms and some pilling on the inside. I wish Meinard still had his blog but he must have deleted it cuz I haven't been able to find it! I figured he might know! Thanks for any input you all might have! I'd like to list them Sunday evening! ~~Pam

Trains and Fruit Baskets

For lack of a better title I just used what I sold the past 24 hours! I had this little wooden train set listed for quite awhile. Don't remember for sure what I paid for it. It's on its way to Anchorage Alaska!

Montgomery Schoolhouse Wood Train Set

Paid $1.00? - Sold for $14.95 - Profit $11.64

My youngest sister gave me these a few weeks ago after they didn't sell at her yard sale. A nice gift to help us out!

Wood Fruit Baskets

Gift from one of my sisters - Sold for $9.95 - Profit $9.24

Well, that's about it for now. I didn't get anything listed yet today and it's five minutes till midnight! Maybe I will shoot for this old Pella Cook Book. I paid 10 cents for it and it looks like the average price sold is about $10.00! It's a really neat old Dutch cookbook in very good condition!

Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam

Hello everyone! Just stopping by to post a few my only sales on eBay so far this month! Sounds like it's slow for most people. Life has been crazy this past few weeks so I haven't had time to list much. Hopefully I can start to remedy that today! I'm hoping to stay home and get things done!

35 Vintage Flower Buttons

Paid 25 cents - Sold for $9.95 - Profit $8.31

Mens Skecher Shoes

Paid $3.00 - Sold for $35.00 - Profit $27.59

Lot of Brain Quest

These were from our personal stash accumulated over the years.

Sold for $24.95 - Profit $21.71

Vintage Yahtzee Game

Paid 25 cents - Sold for $12.50 - Profit $10.10

Pink Pyrex Casserole Dish

Paid $1.00 - Sold for $29.95 - Profit $22.85

I did sell about $150 worth of jars and vases in my vintage Etsy shop and then a couple of small sets of buttons in my Etsy button shop. Well, better get busy on the day! Thanks for stopping by! ~~Pam