eBay Seller Chat with Carol in Alabama: Wife, Mom of 6, Homeschools, Reseller Extraordinaire 🌟

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Transcript

Suzanne Wells: 0:17

Hey, treasure hunters. This is episode 190 of eBay the right way. Today's date is November 6, 2024 and my guest is Carol in Alabama. No announcements this week, and Carol has a lot to say, so we will go straight into the conversation. Hello, listeners. We have a repeat offender with us this week, Carol, who was on in November of 22 and I've been watching her eBay store blossom. Maybe she's just posting more, but we'll talk all about that. So how are you this morning? Carol,

Unknown: 1:04

I'm doing well. I just transitioned from homeschooling and doing English lessons to talking about eBay, so, oh,

Suzanne Wells: 1:10

so this is a welcome break, maybe. Well,

Unknown: 1:14

in a sense, my kids are happy because I get to watch a show while I'm doing this. So they're very happy. Okay, that's good.

Suzanne Wells: 1:19

I talked to my CPA this morning, which is always a nerve wracking thing, so I got that over with for the year, and it's good, and spent half an hour taking photos of stuff I bought yesterday. So as soon as we're done, I am diving into my pile.

Unknown: 1:33

There we go.

Suzanne Wells: 1:35

Okay, well, let's refresh your information as far as where you're located,

Unknown: 1:42

okay, I'm in South Alabama, and I've lived here for about 10 years now.

Suzanne Wells: 1:49

Okay, okay, great. And you know, I said you're a repeat guest, because I do like to watch how others businesses evolve over the years. Because we had a little chat before we started recording, and it you said, Yeah, I know a lot more about what to buy, and I can be more picky. So before we get into that, I skipped over the part about how you came to eBay. You know, was there an event that brought you to eBay? Or how did all that unfold for you? Um,

Unknown: 2:24

so when I was a teenager, my parents had eBay account, and so I sold a couple things on there, and it wasn't serious, and I didn't really make that much money. And then I got married, and my husband is his grandparents had done like, Amazon. I don't know if they sold on eBay, but he had been inspired. Like, hey, they made a lot of money selling on Amazon. I think it's mostly books. And so he was like, oh, maybe we should have an eBay, you know, we should do eBay. And so we did a little bit of eBay. He was kind of the main pusher. And then after I caught the bug, it was like, bad. So, um, he's kind of phased in and out of our of our reselling, and he's right now he's on which I think is part of the reason we're doing more sales. So it has helped tremendously that he has different interests. He looks for different things. And I find, if we listen a lot of different categories, we always seem to have a category that's hot, like, eBay will start showing shoes, even if my husband's listing, like tools, like, it'll start, you know, we'll have a cycle of when things are like, I sell a lot of shoes at once, or I'll sell a lot of books at once, um, electronic items that almost comes in, like waves, like two power supplies in the same, same day. So, really, okay, yeah, I think it really helps to have a varied store. Now it it? I suppose if I was really to, like, hone in on one thing, maybe eBay would give me, you know, one thing would come up all the time if I was constantly listing. But the way it works for us is if we list a lot of different things, we seem to have better sales overall.

Suzanne Wells: 4:04

I see that too well. There's, there's two schools of thought, like one is list your like items at the same time, because it's faster, you just you're in the same category. Some of the item specifics are the same, so it it's faster. But I also like to mix it up, because I just think the variety does something to the algorithm. So like today, I've got some athletic wear, I've got a handbag, I've got some hats, I have some a few collectibles, and it's just like, I go into my my eBay room, and I just pick 10 things and just intuitively like what I'm drawn to that day. Some days, okay, I've got a camera I bought. I'm trying to get into the camera, so I've got the camera the fly. Ash, the bag, all, you know, all the stuff with it, the original instructions. I mean, it's a 35 millimeter but I just, I keep putting it aside. This is like, I don't know this. I'm seeing a friend this weekend, and I'm gonna, she knows cameras, so I'm gonna bring it and be like, can you just look at this and tell me about it like you think it works, or what, how we can test it, or whatever, because I seem to be drawn to things that sell well, or that I just like working with. And we all have those, like, I want to try this because I see other people being successful, and then you're a little intimidated. Yes, I'm intimidated too of I don't really know how to talk about this thing in my listing. Yes, exactly,

Unknown: 5:46

exactly I feel like I feel the same way. Yeah.

Suzanne Wells: 5:51

So let me ask you, how many items you have in your store? Oh,

Unknown: 5:56

I think we just broke 1000

Suzanne Wells: 6:00

actually, you must have a lot of items, because you sell a lot of items. Yes, a lot of different things, yes.

Unknown: 6:09

So we, we're at 1075 and our sold for the last 90 days is 490 so we're just about 50% sell through good on those things, yeah, which I, I'd kind of like it to get a little bit higher, but it's pretty constant at that 50% number, just about 50% but yeah, it's, it's been a fun it's definitely been a fun ride getting up to 1000 listings. But I do feel like if I went back in time, I wouldn't be buying some of these things that I've already bought and are already listed. So in reality, if I got rid of all that, like smaller, smaller things that really shouldn't have been listed, to start with, my over 1000 would be lower, wasn't it that way. So we'll just, we'll see how it goes. My husband picked up some blu ray DVDs, and I'm like, not any more DVDs, please. No more. Do you have a lot of those? He went through a phase of buying DVDs, and we got them cheap, but they were just so low profit. And I'm just like, he gets a little irritated because I'm like, Oh no, he goes, but these are blu rays. These are better, and he's been doing great with them. He really has been doing great. But that's something I wouldn't be purchasing. Like, I would just be like, DVDs, too much, too low profit. I just can't deal with it. Um, I'll buy some DVDs on occasion. If they're, like, really good, but like, sets, if you buy DVD set, right? Some of those, like, um, like old TV shows, or not even old TV shows, but like, from the 90s or 2000s that's

Suzanne Wells: 7:54

old. Yeah, yeah. Some of those, I got a kid born in the 90s. Two of them, one of them turned 30 this year. So, yeah, go, from our perspective, that's true,

Unknown: 8:05

so, but yeah, like, the diversity of, like, what he wants to buy and then what I want to buy, because he would never pick up cross stitch kits. I don't think he ever picked those up. And that's just been like, that has been so good. And when I posted on your group saying, Should I buy this lot in Facebook?

Suzanne Wells: 8:20

I saw that yes, looking back

Unknown: 8:22

now, I would have been like, yes, absolutely. I'll buy the whole thing. Like, now I know a little bit more, so I'm on the lookout for especially for those, I think it's called Mirabella patterns, especially a few of

Suzanne Wells: 8:35

those that are really high dollar.

Unknown: 8:37

Those are fantastic. Um, I so the original lot that I bought in Facebook, she sold them to me for about $1 a pattern, and I didn't buy all the floss, I didn't buy all the all the beads that went with I just bought the patterns. And then that was probably six months or more ago, and I was coming home from Walmart the other day, and I saw a yard sale sign, and I followed it, and it was the same lady. I don't know if she recognized me or not, but I'm pretty sure I was the first person there. And I said, the lady, I think it was her daughter running the sale, said, Are you looking for anything in particular? And I'm like, oh, have you got any, like, craft items, fabric? Because I'm always looking for fabric. And she's like, Oh, I've got some in this box. You have cross stitch patterns. And I'm like, Okay, start looking through. I'm like, Oh, my like, this is more of that same lot that she held back, so she didn't put all of them in that that lot originally. And so she I said, How much for how much of the pattern? She said, $3 each. And like, Okay, I looked through and I found a second one of the high dollar patterns. So because I've been looking, you know, which ones are the good ones, I sold Lady Liberty, which was like 300 and she had lady of freedom, which I think is the like the next one, and that was in that box. And I'm like, Okay, how much for the whole box? Because I'm pretty sure I can do, I can make all my money back and more on just that one pattern. And she said $40 for the whole box, and it had some, like, random coaster supplies for cross stitch. So I took those out. I said, how much of I don't want these? She said, 30. I'm like, Okay. And then I was hoping, because I wasn't thinking I was going to a yard, so hoping I had$30 in my pocket. And I did, thankfully, I had just a little bit over 30. I'm like, oh so wonderful. So and I, before I left her apartment complex, I just confirmed and comped that last lady for freedom. And it was like, really good. I'm like, I was so thankful. I was thrilled I forgot to go to the post office on the way home, because I was so excited. You couldn't wait to get home and listen. I was like, I forgot about going to the post office. So, so this, yeah, that's, that's

Suzanne Wells: 10:45

focus, right there. So how long have you been married?

Unknown: 10:52

Um, I've been married for, I think it's 13 years. Okay, so

Suzanne Wells: 10:56

you guys know each other well, and you can, yeah, you can be like, Yeah, I don't know that we want to sell that that's, that's a great idea, but I just, I'm not feeling it, or, you know, right?

Unknown: 11:10

I think honest with each other is important. I do think I should be more supportive, because he's like, You need to be more supportive. And I do need to be a little more supportive, because most of the time it's good. And also, I do make mistakes too, like I make I buy things that are dumb, and I do appreciate the grace that He gives me when, you know he's He's usually very encouraging. So I could do better.

Suzanne Wells: 11:31

Well, don't say that you buy things that are dumb. Well, just like you've Hindsight is 2020, you know, you may have been like, yeah, somebody's gonna want this, and you're feeling it when you when you buy it, and then over time, it's like, yeah, it's, I was a little misguided on that, but that's okay,

Unknown: 11:51

yeah, maybe not done, but more like, um, ones that maybe I didn't comp out, that I didn't have enough information on. I was like, Okay, well, usually, if something's cheap enough, I'll take a gamble, like that Barbie doll that I sold, it was 50 cents. And I'm like, it might just be a $10 Barbie doll or a $15 Barbie doll, but it was$100 Barbie doll, really, and I didn't know. I'm like, well, 50 cents, I'll give it a I'll give it a try for 50 cents. So sometimes, you know, if it's cheap enough, and it works out.

Suzanne Wells: 12:23

What was special about her, just she was old. Um, it

Unknown: 12:27

was so I looked on the back, um, she was at a thrift store, and she had a bag over her, but she was just in the cart with everything else. She wasn't in a special spot. And, um, I saw, I looked on her backside, and it has, like, 1966 I'm like, Oh, that's pretty old. Isn't that, like, really old? Yeah,

Suzanne Wells: 12:45

that's the year I was born. So well,

Unknown: 12:53

for a Barbie doll, for a Barbie doll, for a Barbie doll, like, that's pretty old for a Barbie doll. So it is, it is, and the hair was in super good shape. She didn't really have any, like, green like stuff coming out of her ears. There was no bite marks, you know, like, there's a little bit of mark on her leg. But she was in really good shape. I'm like, she might only be a $10 $15 but 50 cents in Mark 10 I might have passed which is funny think looking back, because I should have bought her for 10. But so no, that cheap price will just draw you in, then you then you buy too much sometimes, because it's so cheap, right,

Suzanne Wells: 13:26

right? Well, that's the the luxury of the time and space of our business is okay. So I'm going to buy this sealed bag of a bunch of stuff, and I see a couple things in there. I'm not the customer that opens the bag and looks through it. I just respect that they bagged this up, and I'll see a couple things. And the whole bag is $2 and then you get home and you go through it, and you can leisurely take your time looking everything up. And it seems like every time, whether it's an online auction box, lot of a bunch of stuff, or a bag at a thrift store full of stuff, there's always things in that are surprises, like you believe this is in here, I found that Lalique dragon one time. It was a little glass Red Dragon, and it was in a bag that I was buying for some ceramic measuring spoons. They were just really pretty. And I'm like, Oh, I can probably get 25 for those. Yeah, Dragon was in there, and it sold for 80. Oh, it's great. Yeah, it's just, you know, we're lured in by, like, the mystery of what's in there. And sometimes, sometimes it's great stuff. Sometimes it's wadded up, Kleenexes and the spider, you know, it's just okay next.

Unknown: 14:49

Oh, for sure, yeah, for sure, yep.

Suzanne Wells: 14:52

So are you more of a yard sale, estate sale, thrift store person? Then you get your stuff,

Unknown: 14:59

I'm sure. To be more diversified. Um, our yard sale season is, like, spring and fall, because it's a little bit too cold in the winter for people to come out, and the summer is brutally hot. Oh, yes, yeah. So, so we basically have that. We have yard sale season, which is spring, winter or fall, and we're kind of, like, geared up, there's going to be a lot coming in soon, like, so we're, I'm more of a yard sale person right now, but the thrift stores, they're there year round. And if you're consistent enough, I think the key to at least my thrift stores is being consistent. And you got to go, like, every day or every other day. You got to find a time of when they might be putting stuff out, or just, you know, find that rhythm of, you know, and things change too. It's not like it's just, you know, stagnant, because management changes and employees change. And right now, one of our thrift stores will close early because they don't have enough people. So I've got to, kind of, like, change up my thinking. I gotta get there before they close? Yeah,

Suzanne Wells: 16:01

those are fun. I used to go to a church thrift store in Atlanta, and they had weird hours and weird days, and it's like they kept changing it. And so I go one day, I'm thinking, they're open. They don't have a Facebook page with their hours or anything, because it depends on who can work. And so I know nobody in the parking lot. Big sign on the door closed until two o'clock because Steve has a dentist. It's like, then somebody asked me, have you ever been to such and such thrift store? And I'm like, yeah, and their hours are weird, and it's usually open this to this, unless Steve has to go the dentist. They they open late. But those are the best, because the the people working in those little maybe one location, church or charity thrift stores, they just love to be in there working. That's their interaction. You know, they are not really that knowledgeable about what they're selling. They're just the ladies at the the cash register. They're just visiting, and they're like, Oh, can I help you? And and, yeah, I'll take this 50 cent item I can sell for $80 please.

Unknown: 17:14

Yes. They don't know. They don't care. They're just in their

Suzanne Wells: 17:17

for their fun job, which, right, I I would love to do that one day, just be the thrift store person, because it was just people.

Unknown: 17:27

Yeah, I know I have told my husband, I said, we should open a thrift store. He's like, No, want to deal with it. But that to me, it would be so fun. But also you'd have think about so much management and so much time you'd put into being in person that would that affect your eBay business? Like, how, how much would you be sacrificing? And, you know, you couldn't go outsourcing, maybe, or you, you know, everybody be bringing you stuff, but what if you're dealing with customers so much, or organizing and making it presentable? You couldn't spend a lot of time on your eBay so, you know, there is that, that thought, but, um,

Suzanne Wells: 18:00

I do know, um, Jane, who was on the podcast. She has her own thrift store, and she people just donate stuff all the time, and they know she resells it, and they're like helping her. They know they're helping her. Her, it's a small community, and right want to help. And another one, Shelly Carpenter, either they own the thrift store or they managed it. But same thing like and also sell on eBay. And there's a few other people that can think

Unknown: 18:32

I would I need to go back and watch and listen to those podcasts, because it'd be interesting to see. You know, their balance of you know how it affects but at this point, I have six children, and we home school, we homeschool, so I'm very busy already. So a thrift store on top of that and eBay would be almost impossible. How old are your children?

Suzanne Wells: 18:52

What age range?

Unknown: 18:54

My oldest is 12, and my youngest just turned one in July.

Suzanne Wells: 18:58

Okay, so once those it's like farming. Once those kids get big enough, then they they can help in the thrift store. Oh, I

Unknown: 19:05

know, I'm, I'm excited about, we're supposed to be getting a goodwill bins. Oh, we will see how that goes. But I'm like, my husband was a little bit worried. He's like, you're gonna be gone for like, hours. I'm like, No, we're all gonna go. We could all go and, you know, if you have, you know, a couple people that are on your team, so to speak, you could probably find some cool stuff. You know, have a little bit of an advantage to have more people, you know, hunting.

Suzanne Wells: 19:31

We'll see what happens. I don't think the sense of urgency at the bins is what it was years ago. You know, you go in and you feel like you feel like you only have a few seconds, because everybody's going to be grabbing stuff and you're going to miss it because everybody's going to be getting the good stuff. And yeah, I did not have that experience the few times I went, it was pretty laid back. Sometimes it was hardly anybody in there. And you can recognize other resellers, and they're right, lady, nobody. Nobody really felt like threatened that they're right. Other resellers now, if, if at the new ones, when, as soon as they open, you know, maybe give it two or three weeks to settle down before you go, because right day opening week could be a mad house, but it could be crazy.

Unknown: 20:18

But I'm I'm thinking also it. I've been to locations, good little locations within, like, about an hour away on each side of me, and they have not been great, like I would not go out of my way to go to these bins. So some of them, you know, it's yet to be seen. If this is going to be productive, a productive bin, or if it's going to be kind of, I don't know, too small. It all depends. I think also the ones in the bigger cities that are like those tend to be mobbed. That's from what I understand, right? When

Suzanne Wells: 20:49

I see, I can see that, you know, yeah, on the population in the area, yes. And it also depends on when you go, like, different times of day, when they put the stuff out, do they just put it out once and leave it there for a week? Or are they changing it out every day and dynamic of the specific location?

Unknown: 21:10

Yes, we'll have to find the rhythm and see what you know, it's it's our it's the look the opening is not for another year, I think so we have a little time to, you know, think about how good it could be,

Suzanne Wells: 21:21

yeah, well, at least explore it, you know, and like it, then that's fine. You don't have to laugh. You don't have to love it. Well,

Unknown: 21:28

that's, that's the beauty about eBay. You can source it at estate sale. You can go to the thrift store. You can, you know, go to yard sales, the estate sales. I feel like, I feel like it takes a little bit more skill to source it as state sales, because I feel like you have to know a little bit more, because they ask a little bit more. So if you're going to be paying up, you kind of have to know what your profit margin is going to be. So yeah,

Suzanne Wells: 21:56

and I've learned that doing these online auctions, I will, you know, find them, and maybe they don't close out for a week. And so I'll watch certain items, and then I'll research them, and then figure out my my top price, like, how much will I pay for that? And I write it all down. So when it's time, I like to go in, when the bidding is about to close and and post my bid, because I don't want to, I don't want to the price. And then if you are bidding and you're outbid, you get an email at that moment, you have been outbid on this item. So if you do it right at the end, you have a better chance of winning. Same thing on eBay, right? I

Unknown: 22:41

think they used to call it sniping on eBay, yes, and yes, yeah, yes.

Suzanne Wells: 22:45

I still do that on eBay to buy things to flip, but there's no way to do that on these online auctions. And then you can't leave feedback. And it's a different it's a different animal. But I tell you what, even if you don't buy anything, you sure learn a lot looking through all this stuff, right? Do it at home, on your couch in the evenings or whatever, just it's free education. Like, what is? Oh, yeah, and you will see stuff you have never seen or heard of. I'm like, What is that thing? And I'll look up. Oh, right, right? That's a cigar cutter, or just, you know, like, I've never seen that. I don't know, nobody around me ever smokes cigars. I don't know what that is, right?

Unknown: 23:30

There's, there's the, the amount of stuff out there is incredible. It's incredible.

Suzanne Wells: 23:36

It is. It's so much abundance. And you know, when you get to feeling bad about yourself, like, Oh, nothing sold in two days. And, you know, but you have access to all this stuff out there that you can learn on and actually sell, and you have to change your mindset, okay, nobody's buying right now. That's okay. I have watchers on things. I'm getting views on my items. Maybe I don't have the money yet. Maybe, maybe the this thing, somebody else has it, and it's going to break tomorrow, and they're going to need another one, or their kids going to lose their lovey, they're going to throw it out the window on the highway, all those things. Like, I know you're waiting for the event to happen, for the person to need to buy the item. That's right,

Unknown: 24:23

when so, well, I think it's also, you know, you you emphasize, like, if it's not listed, it can't sell, which is true, and I think, I think it might have been, I'm missing. Five years ago, I got this item and I listed it and it didn't sell. I'm like, okay, and I somehow the eBay will drop off your listings too. Like, I don't think I delisted. I think it dropped off. And so I was looking on my shelf of death pile. I'm like, I gotta do something. Let's just pick one thing. I picked that one thing off the shelf. I listed it, and it sold, like, within a week, and the lady left me feedback. I've been looking for one of these, and you know, it's been on my shelf for probably five years, right? Right? Like, I've

Suzanne Wells: 25:00

had this for you. How come you didn't find it, yeah, so

Unknown: 25:04

it wasn't listed. And so I was encouraging, like, you know, what? Even this, it seemed kind of incident, insignificant item too. It wasn't, like, you know, really high dollar thing. So it was, it felt good to be getting out of my pile and into someone hands. It was going to be use. It was gonna be useful to somebody?

Suzanne Wells: 25:22

Yeah, do you take inventory? Um,

Unknown: 25:26

on occasion, I'll go through and I'll be like, I'll look at the thing in the box, like, is this listed? I'll search it. And if it's not listed, I'll be, oh, it's not listed. I don't do a thorough, a thorough listing, but sometimes I'll just look in a box. I'll be like, Hey, that's not been that hasn't moved. Let's see if it's still listed, right? Yeah, um,

Suzanne Wells: 25:42

where I used to get offers on this all the time, and I might get offered anymore. What? What is it still there? Yeah, no, no judgment with six kids, um, homeschooling and eBay. You know, you've got your hands full, but it is. I do it twice a year. Um, I'll just take a tub at a time and go through it, and I always find things that aren't listed. And so it's kind of like free inventory. Yeah, you already paid for it or whatever. Oh, let me list that. Yeah. Where do these go? This has been a glitch forever. As long as they've had good till cancel, this has been an issue. Listings disappearing,

Unknown: 26:23

right? It is a little frustrating, but it's also thinking about you need, you know, you want to boost your algorithm and you want to list some new stuff. There you go.

Suzanne Wells: 26:31

There you go. It's new stuff again. The old has become new again. Sheriff talked about some more things that you've sold because you are just, you are just killing it, like on the money making Mondays. I'm always like, Well, what did Carol sell this week?

Unknown: 26:46

Well, let's see, I do have a sad story about the boots, because my boots, oh, the$1,400 Yes, I do have a sad story, but, I mean, I have them back and they're listed again.

Suzanne Wells: 26:59

You know, I tried to make that the cover slide of that video the $100 and I just, I couldn't make it look right at just, that's okay. They were, they were kind of awkward to photograph, I'm sure. Oh yeah, no, tall,

Unknown: 27:13

yeah. They were super tall, very tall. And it's funny I've had so I bought those in marketplace for $30 and I the guy that listed or the lady that listed them, she had other boots for sale too, but those were, like the amazing boots. So I traveled like, 45 minutes to go pick those up, and I went back later and bought the rest of the collection of boots. But they sat on my wall. Those long boots sat on my death pile for, like, I want to say, like, a year or two, because I was worried about, I don't know how to find the size on this this boot, because it was so tall. I'm like, What if I can't find the size? I was discouraged about selling them, which is ridiculous, but I was discouraged. I'm like, I don't know if I can find the size. So as I started researching them, um, I was looking at other boots, and I found where their size tag was. I'm like, Oh, I was I looked at my pair, and sure enough, the size was not hidden. I thought it was like an unmarked pair of boots, because they were so unique. They were so unique. I'm like, I'm gonna have to measure these things, and I don't know how to get the tape measure there. It seemed complicated to me, and it really wasn't. So just sitting down like for 15 minutes and just kind of like thinking about it probably would have been better for me, but, but they sold like, I think it was nine days for like, 1400 and about two weeks after the sale, he sent me a message saying they didn't fit. And I was a little bit like, he sold boots himself, like I went back and checked his thing. So I was kind of like, did he expect to resell them? Did he have a customer that he was buying them for and they didn't fit them. I don't know. I was just, I took the return. I take returns. So he just returned them, and we have them listed again so we can make another terrific sale. Yeah,

Suzanne Wells: 29:12

you might get more this time. Yeah, maybe, yeah. So can you tell the listeners what they were? Oh, I'm

Unknown: 29:19

sorry. I'm sorry. They were a super tall pair of Wesco. I think the brand was westco, and I never

Suzanne Wells: 29:24

wrote that brand is that German or specialty or something? Um,

Unknown: 29:30

I don't think it's I don't think it's super special. Let me look it up. But I do know that that particular brand does make them to order. So if you buy a pair of boots, just like the ones I sold, they were super tall, like 32 inch from, like the heel to the top. It was very, very tall. And if you order them from the company, I think there's like a year weight, and there's $1,600 okay, so it's, you know, they're not. You like, you could just go to Walmart, or even just order them online and get them delivered quickly

Suzanne Wells: 30:04

because they were brown leather lace up, and they were like, all the way up to the hip, almost, yes, I'll

Unknown: 30:11

read you the it says, So westco job master biker, linesman boots and extra, extra tall, so 32 inch long. And yeah, it was, it was,

Suzanne Wells: 30:26

I thought those would be great for cosplay, you know, these conventions, like steampunk, just those esthetics where people dress up and go to these conventions. I was like, that could be for a lot of things.

Unknown: 30:42

It could be, I do think that they also bikers will wear them, right? Exactly, yes, bikers will wear them. So I think that's kind of like a, you know, crosses up into different categories of use. But yes, you know. So it was super exciting to sell them, but we will get to sell them again.

Suzanne Wells: 31:00

You will see, oh, Boomerang item, it comes back. No, that's okay. Maybe we'll make more next time.

Unknown: 31:07

That's right. We're not worried about it. And you know, it is what it is. You gotta my husband is much more easy to like, Oh, it's okay. Like, you'll be fine, but it's all good.

Suzanne Wells: 31:19

So okay, we got that sale. What else have you posted lately? Oh, let's see, just sold, because you only get five a week on that money making list, so you're probably not posting everything,

Unknown: 31:33

right? Um, some, I try to pick out the more, like the fast sellers that go on there, um, or the ones that are, I'm really happy that it's gone, maybe. So I'll probably be posting this one on Monday. This kind of relates to how you source. It's a distortion pedal for a guitar. I paid $3 for it at a yard sale just this past Saturday, and as I was looking at her stuff, I was like, I just, I got the feeling that it wasn't their stuff, or maybe they were just unloading a lot of stuff. And so I mentioned to her, I said, Do you have any I think maybe she asked, Are you looking for anything particular? And I said, Well, fabric, craft items. And then she showed me where that was in her piles. And then I'm like, um, do you have any more that you're going to be selling later? So I left her my number, trying to see, you know, because she's some of the stuff was valuable, she was just kind of throwing out there. So she said, I don't want to throw it out, so I'm going to, you know, so I'd like someone to take it, um, because she was starting to give me stuff, she was starting like, Oh, here you can just take this. And I'm like, man, like, so I left her my number and name, and maybe she will get back to me with more stuff. She's going through, like, three generations worth of stuff. She said she might sell it herself on eBay, but she was, I don't want to deal with shipping it. And I, I told her up front, I like, I can't give you eBay prices. And she's, oh, yeah, yeah, I understand that's that's fine. So I'm hoping that she sends me a text and there will be more from her estate cleanup that she's working. I don't she said her parents were antique dealers and,

Suzanne Wells: 33:14

Oh, her garage was full of boxes

Unknown: 33:19

like so I'm excited to, hopefully she will, she will contact me. Excellent. Because even times when people are when people think it's no good, like, she's like, I don't want to just throw this stuff out. And a lot of times people think it's just an old book, or it's just an old like, it doesn't look like it has value. You know, it's not an Apple product that

Suzanne Wells: 33:38

looks overwhelmed. It's the overwhelming feels on all these different levels, like it's so much stuff, they don't know how to sell it. Yeah, it might be a personal emotional connection where they they're it's hard for them to figure out a value, because it's, you know, it's so meaningful to them they can't separate their emotions from the market price, you know, yes, and I got into that with doing consignment and collectibles for people, and they're like, oh, no, this was my mother's this, you know, blah, blah, blah, and has sat on our kitchen counter for decades. And I know it's worth at least $1,000 and you look it up, and it's, you know, maybe 200 and you become the bad guy delivering the bad news. Well, I understand it's very important to you, but this is the market value. Yeah, that's your home, your car, whatever. But it, who is it? Carlos, the mailman. He says he offers 20% of his projected eBay selling price, and he just, he just offers, and he's like, I'm not, I don't mean to insult you, but this is what I can pay because I'm going to have to do the work, I'm taking the risk, I'm going to have to ship it. It may not sell for a year or two, or seven, or whatever.

Unknown: 34:59

Yeah. So yes, and you might get it returned, that's right,

Suzanne Wells: 35:03

and when I sell and come back, and you got to deal with that. So do you have a strategy for what you're going to offer?

Unknown: 35:09

Um, I'm hoping between maybe 10 and 20% as well. But also depends, like, if she's like, I just want to get rid of this box of stuff. I could give it to you, you know. And part of me is like, I want to pay her for even she's going to give it to me, in a sense, to build that relationship that she trusts, that I'm going to be fair with her too. But part of me is like, if she's just throwing a box out, like, I'll take anything you're throwing out. I kind of brought it up like that, I'll take anything you're just going to, like, toss out. Because a lot of time the value is, is sitting in these other things, the things that people think are super valuable. Like you said, the market has changed, and it's the

Suzanne Wells: 35:42

value is on that, you know, airline ticket from 1957 right? Tan am airlines that doesn't exist, you know, and they don't know. They don't know. They think the the Waterford Crystal and the, you know, English tea cups is where it's at, which it may be, but that ephemera, just Yeah, was it? It was on the money making Mondays. It might have been Casey sold a, like a badge or a something for a convention like and this, this little pin or badge or whatever it was sold for $200

Unknown: 36:20

it's crazy, like it's good, but it's crazy,

Suzanne Wells: 36:24

yeah, and just, you know, ticket stubs and all this paper stuff, you know, that's what I would love to find on these, either online auctions or estate sale or whatever. And just like a big goldfish bowl of ticket stubs from whatever, because you have the old advertising on the back. And, you know, times have changed, and the way we used to buy tickets, you know, stand outside the record store, camp out overnight to get your tickets. And right those are, you know, if you went to the 1980 REO Speedwagon concert like you remember how you got the tickets and the concert and all the, all the stuff about the concert, and it is, you know, nostalgia. Is it even a piece of paper, but you can pick it up and look at it whenever you want,

Unknown: 37:14

right, right? I think people have feelings attached to that stuff, or brings up good feelings. I

Suzanne Wells: 37:19

mean, it can be any, anything, you know. I my gymnastics team performed at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, and I have all this stuff saved, you know, from that experience, it was great. It wasn't a meet, we weren't judged, we were performing. So it was a completely different feeling, you know. And so I have all that stuff saved. It's not really worth anything. Some of the World's Fair stuff is from different World's Fairs depending. But, you know, I think I'm just going to keep it because I like to look at my scrapbook and remember, yeah, that will be Yeah, things I ever did in my life, for sure, for sure. Yeah, Allen down, yeah, memory lane. Let's

Unknown: 38:02

get back on track. For sure. I do what some of the sales that have been coming to I have not been posting as many. I've been getting fabric. I've been doing more fabric sales. One of the thrift stores had a great deal on fabric, and I I would go back, I would check maybe, like, twice a day to see if they put out new fabric, because it was just a great deal, and the stuff they were putting out was sellable. So I've been, you know, and also, this is not quite eBay related, but looking into selling on the Facebook de stashing groups, I haven't done any of that yet, but the stuff that does not sell on eBay as name brand fabric will do pretty well. Um, if you've got, like, Disney characters, or this particular one was Scooby Doo Mm, hmm, that fabric has done really good.

Suzanne Wells: 38:52

Um, somebody said the other day, I don't even know where I heard this. I think I was in the thrift store and heard people talking. And I always, I always like, listen up, because they could have good information. But it was a like, 20 ish, and then her mom and they were shopping, and the mom was like, Oh, what about this? It was sewing stuff or something. And she's like, Oh, mom, nobody sews anymore. Everybody just buys stuff already made. And I was like, oh, no, all these younger ones getting into knitting and crochet because it's a meditative, soothing activity, and you can make really cool things, and it's not that hard, and you can do it anywhere, all that. And I thought, huh. And the mom was like, oh, that's ridiculous. People will always sew. I would,

Unknown: 39:47

I would tend to agree with that, that people will always, always want to create. What's a

Suzanne Wells: 39:51

creative it's a creative success, yeah, and you Yeah, if you're in that world and have patience to do it right, I

Unknown: 39:58

do feel like the the. The as I've been looking at fabric and like, deciding what's going to be sellable or not, there are certain things that kind of go out of style. So you have to be aware of, like, not all fabric is valuable, at least what you think it could be, because some of it's just out of style. Some of it is nostalgic, and it's valuable for the nostalgic, you know, purpose, but it's not, you know, you have to be willing to let that go for the stuff is just kind of out of style, like people are not looking for it actively. There might be one or two grandmas out there that need that to finish their quilt, maybe. But it's there's some fabric that has a very small window.

Suzanne Wells: 40:38

Well, I got that Daisy Kingdom fabric on my bolo list, yeah, the

Unknown: 40:42

daisy Kingdom is good and Waverly

Suzanne Wells: 40:45

from the 90s. You know, everybody had the waves of drinks, curtains and pillows. And, yes, that's a good one, yeah,

Unknown: 40:53

uh, one. One. Downside to fabric is it tends to be, for me, at least a little bit slow, like, it's not, doesn't always just sell, right, like, like that. But the storage is, is can be an issue because I've got tubs of storage, no extra tubs.

Suzanne Wells: 41:10

And if it's those big bolts, that's a little heavy, yeah.

Unknown: 41:13

So I've got, probably, I've got stuff that's kind of like seeping out of the eBay room. Now that's kind of my issue. I've got to sell out of that eBay room so I can make room for all the fabulous new stuff

Suzanne Wells: 41:25

that's called inventory creep. Yeah, it's creeping it up on you, and then it goes into another room and this closet over here, right?

Unknown: 41:36

Well, so when we expanded to having six kids, we had to give up our extra like we had an extra room that we could kind of throw things in. So that room is now bedroom, and we need that for bedroom. So I'm kind of like, we have to rearrange a little bit of where the creep can go before I go back in the eBay room.

Suzanne Wells: 41:53

But I mean, if you think about it, it's, it's an investment, you know, that thing, yes, is going to sell and bring many dollars?

Unknown: 42:02

Yes, yes. Another good buy that I had, which I think I have posted on money, money making Monday, are the watches? Yeah, I I bought like $230 worth of worth of watches at that one store. And I was at the store, you know, doing comps. I'm like, is this like a $40 watch? I'm like, this is like, a $40 watch. And I kept, you know, just throwing him in the cart. And looking back, I was like, Why didn't I just buy all of them? Why was I despite all of them? I

Suzanne Wells: 42:32

saw that, and I was like, wow, she's brave for buying that Mini. I don't know I would be that brave,

Unknown: 42:38

in retrospect, because they're selling, okay, there's, they're a little bit slow, but they're selling. And I still have plenty to sell, but I'm like, it's, they're brand new items. I don't have to clean them. I just have to take a picture, and they have barcodes. I could just scan them, and it pulls up the comps. It's very simple. So in retrospect, I probably would have bought all of them, but part of me is a little bit like the lady at the register is probably wondering what I was doing with, you know, 60 watches. And I think it shouldn't be an embarrassing point, but like, when you buy a big bunch of something, you kind of like, think someone's looking at you, like, what are they going to do with all those? And what if you're they think you're a reseller?

Suzanne Wells: 43:19

Well, who cares? I'm on board with the, if you can sell repeatables,

Unknown: 43:25

oh yeah,

Suzanne Wells: 43:27

time and maybe all those watches were different, but

Unknown: 43:30

they they were slightly different. There's, there was probably my most repeat was probably seven. So there were, there's a fair variety of different watches. But I think it's not being ashamed of being a reseller is important, you know, and taking a little bit like, I do work, I do research, I have this knowledge, and I'm willing to put in the work to ship it, to take care of my customers and give them a deal. Because most of the a lot of the time they're trying to look for a deal. Are the customers, and they can't be at that yard sale, and they'd be happy to give you$30 even though you only paid two, right?

Suzanne Wells: 44:08

And they don't need to know what you make you paid. Oh, yeah, but,

Unknown: 44:11

but I think we shouldn't feel ashamed. I should not be, no,

Suzanne Wells: 44:15

it sounds like you are very good at time management, again, with six kids and homeschooling and everything you do and and, you know, one year old, and probably a toddler too. And it's funny that you said that because I was out yesterday and somebody texted me, you know, I was looking up something so that that popped up on my phone. I didn't even read what they said. I just said, I'm working now. I'll get back to you later, because, you know, I'm in the zone. I'm at the thrift store. I'm focused. I whatever it is, can wait, you know, I don't know anything that was so urgent that I had to answer that right away. So I think that's very important, that you treat this like a business. Right? Treat

Unknown: 45:00

it like a job and be responsible. And I think that's how you grow too. That's how you're going to grow your store, by treating it like a job. If you treat it as a side hobby, it can work like that, and that's the beauty. You can make it just a hobby do so once in a while,

Suzanne Wells: 45:13

do what make you happy, but remember, yeah, whatever you focus on grows, whether it's positive or negative, it's gonna get bigger if you focus on

Unknown: 45:24

it. That's true. And I do also like the people that you hang out with. You become more like those people. So if you're hanging out with people, you know, maybe, if it's just online and you're getting ideas from people, you're seeing their what solds, it encourages you to go out and find stuff. And you know, if they can find it, I probably could find something too

Suzanne Wells: 45:41

that is king, right there. I look at the successful people on our group, and if they can do it, I can do it, yeah, if they can do it, other people can. It's been done. So it can be done, you know, it's not like, you know, going to Jupiter in a spaceship, that's not been right, but this reselling, that's been done, and people do it every day, right?

Unknown: 46:04

And I do also, like the thought of, you know, all my thrift stores are terrible. They may not always be terrible. You need to go back and check one of my thrift stores has dried up, and it's been dry. It was dry for about a year. Like, I'm not going to spend my time going back to this dry well, over and over again, it's just not worth my time. So a new a new location, not a new store, but they started getting better prices, and like, I'm just going to spend my time there. So I do feel like, over the years, the shift of like, where the deals are, will shift. It'll just keep changing. And you have to be flexible, because this is not like we're dealing with Walmart, and they're always going to have stock like you have to. You know, management changes. Things change, yeah, and

Suzanne Wells: 46:46

I think what you said about your store drying up, that can happen for any number of reasons. Down, change of management, whatever. Not enough boys put stuff out, but you can't. Listeners, please don't think that you're at a place. You're not finding good stuff. Maybe you're not selling a lot of items. Like, it's over eBay's over. I'm done. No change something. Oh,

Unknown: 47:13

yeah. And there's so many else. There are so many opportunities. I feel like if the thrift stores did dry up completely and it stayed dry for a long time, I'd probably be looking into like buying an estate, like buying an estate out, because that's like, that could be a whole house full of stuff. You have to process that. But to be a different angle of work, doing storage units. There's, there's so many opportunities I have not tried, or have not done enough research to do online auctions. But that sounds like it works great for people. You know that could, that could, that could be done almost anywhere I would imagine. So. And I

Suzanne Wells: 47:45

actually put a few courses in my premium library about how I'm doing it, like things I learned, oh, don't do that again. Don't do that. Or this worked. So as I as I'm doing it, I'm sort of, you know, holding the door open for others. Like, here's what I learned, you can fast track this because, let me tell you, if, if your thrift store is ever like, you can't go, or bad weather, or whatever is happening, there's so much on those online options that people don't bid on. Yeah, and you're

Unknown: 48:16

telling me you're seeing good things, like, you know, you find one thing that you can resell from that lot. But many times, I think, if it's all like in not visible, then other people will not see the value. And if it looks like I've gotta get rid of some more stuff, I don't I only want one thing, and they can't see the other pieces of value, just like a regular consumer person.

Suzanne Wells: 48:36

One One thing I'm seeing, which is, like, you gotta be the smarter bear is they don't title the items correctly spell words, or they don't know what to call something. So what is a search feature? It it's better to find either one near you that you can go pick up, or however you're searching and look through all of them, because some of these folks don't even care what they call things, and it's not the right name, yes. So if you're searching for, you know, bake light bangle bracelet or something, they might just call it chunky red bracelet, yeah. Or, you know, you have to look. And I have found so many things that way, just, oh, that's not what this is, or that's totally spelled wrong.

Unknown: 49:26

Yeah, not going to come up in a search, right?

Suzanne Wells: 49:30

You know, it's, it's like, benefiting from the system. And, you know, you learn as you go. And that's, that was an important lesson is like, yeah, you can search for things, but they were calling handmade quilts. They were calling them blankets. Like, not, not even close. That's not, yeah, it's a blanket. But, you know, people are going to search for those handmade quilts. Well, that's

Unknown: 49:57

interesting. You mentioned the cross stitch slot I bought. On Facebook, marketplace, that good lot. She called it stitchery. She didn't call it cross stitch. She called it stitchery. So maybe that's an example of not titling it. Yeah, what are we gonna say? I

Suzanne Wells: 50:11

won something the other day. It was, you know, what a bell pull is. It's like a long strip of fabric that can be very ornate back in the days where they would, you know, like on Downton Abbey, where they pull the bell, okay? And it was a beautiful, like, Sash looking thing, okay? And was all needlepoint it. It's like, got fruit and stuff on. It wasn't super elaborate, but they called it a thin tapestry. And I'm like, No, that is a needle point Bell pull like I wouldn't put that in. And so I won it for like, $5 some of them sell for 100

Unknown: 50:52

Oh, my, my.

Suzanne Wells: 50:52

And I gotta get it in my hands and see what the deal is. But right the kind of things I look for that they didn't call it the right thing. Mm, hmm. But I did put that on my my search word list, because that's what I do, is I go in and search for specific like doll clothing. It's very like, either sell it as a lot you can part it out. I've sold some. And so it's very interesting to be exposed to different things. But for sure, just the whole abundance of of stuff that doesn't even get bid on. I went up for dollar. Wow,

Unknown: 51:26

that's amazing. Yeah, that's great. That's great. Well,

Suzanne Wells: 51:29

I think I've taken up enough of your time. It's probably either lunch time or class time again over there. Yeah, we'll probably,

Unknown: 51:36

probably try to hit the books a little bit before lunch. One thing I

Suzanne Wells: 51:39

did want to ask you is, what do you think top one or two factors that helped your business grow to this point, over the last two years,

Unknown: 51:50

I would say the consistency of searching, because if I wasn't searching, I wouldn't find it like not many things to show up at your front door to sell like, sure, you might find a free pile once a while, But I think the consistency of going out and looking and having the listing consistency too, like just keep going and when things are not looking good, because sometimes we'll have a day like nothing sold today. Sometimes that happens, usually it's just a low dollar day, if it's a bad day, but once a while, be like nothing sold, but not being discouraged. And just keep going. Just keep going. This is, you know, if you're in it for the long haul, like, I can't tell you how many times it's been like, oh, it's been terrible, and then it picks up again, and this will be our best year, I think on eBay. Yet, this sounds like

Suzanne Wells: 52:36

it, yeah. So you're just using the little engine that could mentality probably

Unknown: 52:43

and also keep going, keep going, but also use the tools that are available. Because a lot of this stuff, I went to a community sale, and I think we got there just as the doors were opening for this estate slash yard sale, and they had a bunch of records. And I am not knowledgeable in records like at all I know to look out for, like, Rock Records, kind of, but I'm not really good at it. So I just took Google lens and I started, like, Google lensing these records, and we came away with 30 of them that we thought would be decent, or, you know, make a good profit. And I sold one for 130 like, within the week. So that paid for the entire thing. But that's, I didn't that's out of my comfort zone completely, right? But I, you know, used to Google lens and like, Okay, this could be good. So use the tools that are available. There's so much I feel like there's almost no excuse to like if you're, if you're a person with items to not know the value, you know, and if they're selling it, you know, at an undervalued price, you know. Just don't feel bad about it. Like this person who was selling all these records, she didn't want them. They were her husbands, I think she had passed away, and she didn't want them, you know. So use the tools that are available would be very another, another tip, okay,

Suzanne Wells: 54:00

well, thanks again for spending time with me this morning to do this, and we will continue to watch you on the Facebook group.

Unknown: 54:07

You're welcome. Suzanne, thanks for having me.

Suzanne Wells: 54:09

Thanks. Have a good day.

Unknown: 54:11

Thank you. You too.

Suzanne Wells: 54:15

And now for the last part, which I've been calling the thing at the end, and and one of my listeners suggested I call it Suzanne's parting words, and I like that. So my parting words this time is about a TED Talk. If you aren't familiar with them. Ted Talks are short educational presentations given by experts on a variety of topics, including science, culture, technology, entertainment and design. Every day I listen to or read something about motivation, achieving goals, creating habit. For success, and I usually do this at night as I'm winding down from the day, right before I go to sleep. And I found this talk really refreshing. The title is, if you want to achieve your goals, don't focus on them. And it's given by Reggie rivers, who is a former Denver Broncos running back. He explains that goals are achieved by not focusing on the actual goal, but the actions and steps to get to your goal. The talk is only about 10 minutes long, and he tells a cute story about his childhood to make his point. And I felt this talk was relevant to eBay. If you're trying to build something, or at least maintain it, you must focus on the actions to get there, and that's where a lot of people fall short, is they don't take the correct actions. So anyway, it is a TED talk titled, if you want to achieve your goals, don't focus on them. So check that out, something to listen to while you are listing your items next week. My guest is Mariah, who is somewhat new to eBay. She is a high school math teacher and has some great analytical perspectives. Don't worry, it isn't all math and numbers. Your head is not going to explode, but she's just naturally wired to focus on numbers and statistics, so the chat is rather eye opening, and you might learn something new. Alrighty, another episode in the books. Thank you for making this podcast a part of your week. I really appreciate all of you out there listening and reach out to me anytime my contact information is below the Podcast. Talk to you next week. Bye for now. You