Selling Clothes?

I've had one person tell me that selling clothes on ebay is worthless.  Then I had another person tell me I should sell all the clothes I've shrunk out of.  I went through my closet last night and I've got about 30 pieces of clothing, tops/blouses and pants, that are in really nice condition....things I wore to work.  Has anyone else out there tried to sell clothes on ebay?  Any opinions on whether I should or shouldn't?  I was thinking if I could get an average of $10 per item, that would be better than giving them away for free to Goodwill (I sent 3 garbage bags full to Goodwill just a month ago and now I'm feeling kind of sick, lol).  I'm curious how many people try to return them due to not fitting right, or whatever.  I have a "returns not accepted" policy on everything I've sold so far.  I'd want to do the same with clothing....I really don't want to fool with returns at all.  So what do you think?  Is it worth it?  Thanks for any tips!
(And my weight is the same as it was a couple of days ago....holding at 238).

Happy Sunday

Good morning everyone :)

The scale says 238.2 this morning...in the middle of a wknd.  I know, right?!?!  Yay.

This past week was really rough with learning the whole e-bay thing.  I lost a lot of money on shipping.  I listed items for sale on every day of the week, so that when the auctions ended, I had to go to the post office and/or UPS store every day of the week to ship stuff.  Duh!! 

I figured some things out though so I think things will be better going forward.  Dwayne ordered me a scale on Amazon yesterday, so I'm not listing another dang thing until it gets here, so I can be MUCH more accurate when I'm listing the shipping.

I will be garage saleing on Sat mornings (we went yesterday, and I LOVE that Dwayne is doing this with me), and listing any/all items for sale on Sundays, so that the auctions all end on a Saturday.  If people pay for their items the same day, then I can go out and ship them the same day, instead of all through the week.

But to streamline things even further, I'm going to study up today online about how to have packages picked up at your front door.  If I print my labels out on ebay, after I have a scale, then I might be able to eliminate the post ofc if scheduling a pick up at my house is free.  I have to read about that today.

My next order of business is to open another checking account that is solely for ebay.  I went to Bank of America yesterday and tried to do this, but the banker talked me right out of it.  He forewarned me that BOA is about to force everyone into 1 of 4 accounts that they will be offering in an effort to collect more on fees (yes, he actually said that to me).  He said all of the accounts have monthly fees, but there are things you can do to have those fees waived...the most basic one being keeping a daily balance of $2,000 in your acct. at all times.  I had to LOL at that one.  I told him that would never happen.  I told him it sounded like it was time to find another bank altogether.  He said eventually there will be no such thing as free checking at ANY bank.  I told him I didn't believe that...that I would be able to find it at a smaller bank.  He agreed that a smaller one might keep offering it.  I said it sounds to me like SMALLER is BETTER.  It was almost noon when I left, so no time to run the roads to find a smaller bank on a Saturday.

Anyhoo, I feel like I want a separate account because PayPal sucks out the shipping every time you mail something (you pay upfront obviously).  And I know that ebay will eventually take out 9% of everything I've sold within a month...I think this happens at the end of the month.  And it just makes me nervous that all of these transactions are going on in the acct where I keep my bill money and have to watch out for checks to clear on bills.  I looked around online yesterday for a smaller bank, and I think I'll be opening a new account at one I found on Monday morning.  I'm trying to get the ebay process as streamlined as possible.

Btw, I refunded the lady her money that bought the Gucci wallet.  What it boiled down to I think is that she had a brown Gucci purse, and wanted a brown wallet to match.  When the wallet got to her, it was just the wrong shade of brown (we've sent several emails over the wknd).  It's not a fake Gucci.  She emailed yesterday to say she shipped it back, so now I have to decide if I want to re-list it.  I guess you can only tell so much from a picture, so I'm a little nervous about it happening again.  The chances of me re-listing it are slim to none.  I only paid 50 cents for it at that yard sale in the ritzy neighborhood where the lady was also selling her Porsche.  So I'm not out much.

I've got a frig full of veggies and need to do some prep today, make some soup, maybe another veggie/pasta salad, etc.  Hope all of you are fully enjoying your weekend. :)

**KatieJ, if your'e reading today, I sent you an email yesterday...write me back!  :)

I Was Waiting For It...

Remember how I said I accidentally listed a fake Kate Spade bag the other day and E-Bay threatened my life?  Well...I half-joked about waiting to hear back from the lady that bought the Gucci wallet saying it was a fake, too.

WELL GUESS WHAT???

I just got that email.  She wants her money back.  She chided me for trying to sell something fake like this on ebay and how she would NEVER do such a thing. 

DEAR.
GOD.

I have lost so much friggin' money this week with the shipping and now the fakes....talk about gunshy.  I'm not sure if I should push on and try to keep learning about stuff...or if I should hang up my auction gloves.

What do you think?

Help me before I go complely broke.....or nuts....whichever comes first.  So damn frustrated.

e-Bay Update

Are you guys tired of hearing about my e-bay stuff yet?  Sorry...I know a couple are interested so I'm going to keep updating for a while. :)

OH...you wanted a weight loss update since this is a weight loss blog???  Fine.  The scale said 240 again this morning.  Oh how I love that #.

Back to ebay.  It turns out, I'm a complete moron.  I really don't have this shipping thing down yet.  I listed a box of 60 DVD's, and ebay would only let me list a max amt. of $3.00 for shipping (I guess they assume you're only shipping ONE dvd???  So I'm like ok, whatever, it can't be THAT much, right??  RIGHT??  WRONG.

Those DVD's sold last night....all 60 of them....to a guy in CALIFORNIA.  Do you know how much it costs to ship to the West Coast when you live on the East Coast????????  Yeah.  THAT MUCH.

$51 for priority mail....$25 for parcel post.  Those babies went parcel post.  God knows when he'll get them, and who knows that kind of nasty feedback he'll leave about me for that. 

I made a beeline for home after my horrifying post ofc trip to UNLIST the paper shredder...made out of CAST IRON that I only had $10 for shipping on.  Someone emailed me about it, suggested I take it to the UPS store and have it weighed.  They said shipping large or awkward items are better shipped through UPS Ground for some reason.  So I went to the UPS store, found out the box it ships in costs $8 and the price to ship it to San Francisco is $27.  So I re-listed it tonight, with a shipping price of $35, thankyouverymuch.  I did put a note in my description box that if the buyer lives much closer to GA, then I'll be happy to adjust the shipping.  Three people have it on their Watch list again.

This learning-as-I-go thing is about to kill me, lol...and my quickly depleting bank acct is not happy AT ALL.  At this rate, I won't have any gas money left to get to work!!  Needless to say, it's been a rough couple of days.

Exasperated, I googled shipping tips for e-bay.  I read a guide that a girl wrote about shipping on ebay, and her very first point of advice is BUY A SCALE.  No shit, dude.  It's definitely on my list of things to do.  She said she bought one at Wal-mart for $22 and it's been well worth it.  She said to print labels through e-bay instead of USPS.  E-bay charges .17 for delivery confirmation, where the post ofc charges .75 or .85. 

I also mis-guessed on how big a small flat rate box was when I listed a book last week.  I was thinking The Hobbit should fit in a small flat rate....surely a small one would hold a book!  NOT!  It had to go into a medium flat rate box today, going from $5 to $12.  (eyeroll).  Now I know the size of all the flat rate boxes...I brought a few home with me today.

As of right now I've made $188 on ebay so far....then you minus ALL THAT SHIPPING, so I've made like $5.  lol  None of the money will be available and sent from PayPal to my bank acct until about 3 days after the buyers actually receive their packages, and somehow report it back to ebay.  Something about that makes me nervous.

Thanks for all the tips Chrissy...I love your input.  Please keep the advice coming!  In answer to your questions, I haven't found something I love, other than I love the prices that designer handbags go for.  But after the fake Kate Spade I listed (having no idea who Kate was at the time), I am now terrified to purchase these bags at garage sales.  I must of just gotten dumb lucky on that Gucci wallet.  Unless, of course, the buyer contacts me in a couple of days and tells me I sold her a fake.  I'm waiting for it!!!!
And no, I haven't heard of that Backroom place.  What kind of place is it exactly?

Learning As I Go

Selling on e-bay is not as easy as it may sound.  I've already screwed up and this was my first weekend garage saleing!

Thanks to Jennifer and Chrissy for the tips.  I truly appreciate your help.  I've spent the last 2 weeks trying to learn how to research things and learn the ins adn outs of selling on ebay.  I went to a garage sale yesterday in a ritzy neighborhood and picked up a Gucci wallet for 50 cents.  I searched the completed listings to see what they were going for, then posted it with a starting price of $29.99.  A couple of hours later a lady emailed me and asked if I'd set it on a "Buy It Now" price for $65 and she'd purchase it immediately.  SOLD!!!  That was fun!!

Today I went to a flea market with Dwayne.  The plan was to look around at different things and then go home and research prices to see what's hot and what's not.  While there, a purse and matching wallet caught me eye.  It had a price of $10 on it and I gave him $7.  I did not know the name brand on it, I was just thinking it was a cute set and I should get $30-35 out of it for both the handbag and wallet.

When I got home and researched it, I found out Kate Spade was a popular name in handbags, and the bags by themselves w/o a wallet were selling for $70 and up!  Since I'd never heard the name, I googled how to tell if a handbag is fake.  I looked at a bunch of labels, read that her bags were made in many places over the years, such as USA, China, Taiwan, etc.  The labels looked real to me, so I listed the set at $60.  About an hour later I got an email from ebay basically threatening my life for trying to sell a FAKE handbag on their site.  I was warned in a page long email, and if I try to do it again, my account will be suspended.  GREAT...not so much fun.  So that has me feeling a little wary and I know to be a LOT more careful about buying things I don't know diddly squat about.

I also purchased the paper cutter that I posted about yesterday.  The lady at the garage sale (same ritzy neighborhood...it was a neighborhood-wide sale) was asking $20.  Dwayne offered $10.  She said she couldn't take less than $15.  I wasn't willing to risk more than $10 on something that I thought looked cool, but wasn't sure if it was really worth anything.  So we started walking back to our car.  The lady yelled out that if we really wanted it we could have it for $10...she was just glad it was going to a "good home", she said.  I had to giggle inside, thinking "Yeah right lady, as soon as I get this baby home it's going up on auction!", lol.  I emailed my friend Kathleen who deals in antiques and she's guessing I can get $30-$40 for it.  I listed it at $29.99, 40 something people have looked at it, and 10 people have it on their "watch list", so I'll let you know what happens when the auction is over.

Dwayne had a collector's edition of The Hobbit that he let me sell, so it was free to me.  It brought $28 this wknd, and I sold some vintage pillow cases for a little (they're really not worth anything, which surprised me).  So I had 3 shipping labels to print out tonight.  We went to Office Depot today and bought labels...and I bought the wrong ones.  I realized I needed full sheet labels AFTER I hit print label on the ebay site, so they sucked $5.15 out of my paypal account, I had to void the label since I didn't have the right kind to print it out on, and I got a message back saying that once the post office verifies that I didn't actually use the label, they'll refund my $5.15 in about 2 weeks.  UGH. 

So yeah...it's been a learning experience to say the least.  Some of it's been aggravating, but overall, I can see where I can make a little money on the side to supplement my income.  I made $100 this wknd.  If I can work my way up to $200 a week, that will be perfect.  I obviously still have a lot of learning to do and will continue to do searches, etc. for a couple of hours each night, so that my garage sale purchases on the wknds get better and better. 

If any of you sell on e-bay and have any tips for me, I'm all ears.  Thanks!!  :)

Ever Seen One of These?

I started garage saleing this weekend to re-sell stuff on e-Bay and see if I can supplement my income.  Dwayne and I purchased this today, but when I do a search on e-Bay, I can't find another one exactly like it.  It's a Victory 24" cast iron & wood paper cutter/butcher's roll that they used to have in old country stores.  Has anyone seen one or know what it might be worth?  Thanks for the help!

Poison

I think there's a lot to what people say about carbs (the bad ones) being poison.  I've really been paying attention to the way I feel after I eat too many carbs these last 2-3 months, and there's a notable difference.  They really do make me feel hazy, foggy, sluggish...overall like crap.  When I'm sticking to mostly protein and veggies w/ fats like EVOO, then I just feel BETTER.  My head/mind seems clearer, I feel lighter, and just less junky.  I hate that junky feeling.

Being someone who's always loved sandwiches, getting away from the bread has really been hard.  I continue to work on it, and take the choices day by day.  Sometimes I fail miserably, but I keep trying.

Yesterday was one to be proud of.  I had an egg scramble with grilled chicken and mushrooms, onions & red bell pepper.  Lunch was the soup I made with chicken and veggies (broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, datil pepper & 1/2 c. fat-free Half & Half, all pureed with the immersion blender into creamy deliciousness (shredded chicken added in after blended).  I had a snack plate of veggies at work with grape tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet mini peppers and baby carrots.  Dinner was chicken fajitas but I skipped the tortillas.  I ate them over a bed of romaine, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and a few sliced black olives (no cheese) with a little sour cream on top and a small amount of dressing by mixing 2 Tbsp  of Ranch and 2 Tbsp of Texas Pete hot sauce. 

I did excellent in the low carb department overall.  My only bad choice was splitting a Little Debbie brownie with Dwayne (1/2 is 130 cals...but pure sugar).  I don't expect any of my days to be perfect...but I do expect to get better.

Breakfast this morning was 2 eggs scrambled with 2 oz. Boar's Head low sodium ham, bell peppers, onions and mushrooms with Texas Pete on top.  I made a salad for lunch with romaine, spinach, red cabbage, red onions, bell peppers, sweet mini peppers, and tomatoes.  My snack plate is celery, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, baby carrots and a 35 cal. wedge of the Laughing Cow chz (for the celery).  The plan for dinner is a 93/7 plain hamburger on the grill (no bun), and a bowl of the chicken/veggie soup.  (Dang I miss my camera!!)

I'm feeling good today...no bloating, no ovary pain, healthy food planned, and the scale says 238.6 again this morning.  Happy Tuesday!!  :)