eBay the Right Way

eBay Seller Chat with Christine in California: Script Writer, Ebay is a Knowledge Game 🧐

• Suzanne A. Wells • Season 204

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Suzanne Wells:

Music. Hello, all you wonderful people out there in podcast land. This is episode 204 of eBay the right way. Today's date is February 12, 2025 and my guest is Christine in California. Announcements, just one the 1090 nines are on eBay ready for you to download. If you did not receive the email, you can check in and pull that yourself. Just go to your seller hub under the Payments tab and then go down to taxes, and you'll be taken to a page where all of your previous 1090 nines are, if you've had them, and mine go back to 2019 you can also download the entire history for the previous year by clicking on 1099 details right next to that 1099, tab, it is a CSV file that includes all the orders that factored in to your gross amount of payments. It also includes other details, such as expenses, refunds and order earnings for each order, which can be useful when preparing your taxes. So if you are that detail oriented and you want to see everything that happened in 2024 you can pull that information and put it into a spreadsheet and do all your spreadsheet magic of organizing and sorting and resorting or whatever you want to do with it. So yes, we do have a complete one year history for tax purposes, and here is your nudge to get working on those taxes. If you normally wait until the last minute, why not make this year different? Do it early and enjoy a stress free April. Okay, public service announcement over. Let's meet. Hello listeners and welcome back. I have Chrissy with us, and Chrissy was marked safe during the California Fire, so we're going to talk about that a little bit. But how are you doing this morning?

Unknown:

I'm doing great. Suzanne, really nice to meet you. Good. Nice

Suzanne Wells:

to meet you too. And if you would tell us where you're located, generally, you don't have to say exactly. If you don't want to.

Unknown:

I am close to the Rose Bowl like Pasadena, California. So the Eaton fire was the specific fire that sent me and my family to a hotel for a week.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, did you have any damage?

Unknown:

Uh, nope, came home. Yeah. Perfectly fine house. We are incredibly lucky,

Suzanne Wells:

very scary seeing that I'm, I'm clear across the country, but just, you know, just very scary now. So there's something, did you get an alert on your phone? Or how did you get notified? Like, it's time to evacuate? So there's,

Unknown:

we knew that it was going to be a very windy Santa Ana day, there's a local weather forecaster who kind of gave everybody a week's warning, of like, if something happens, this isn't going to be good. So everyone was kind of on alert anyway, that Tuesday was when the fire started at the next town over, and we were there was no sleep. Everybody had packed a bag already. We told our kids, our kids slept. They were fine. But, you know, have all of your clothes ready. Have the pets kind of know where all of the carriers are in, the leashes. And we just my husband and I woke up every hour or so and checked this really great app called watch duty that was really helpful. And at some point our power went out, which is not great because we live in a part of the town where without power, there's no internet but a really close knit street, so we all kind of kept each other informed, and then at around five in the morning, we everybody got a alert on their phone that our whole town was evacuated. So we had already had everything ready. We got in the car, did a quick you know, honk and make sure all the neighbors. Were aware of it, and left with seven humans, two dogs and two cats. So it was a it was a full Hotel.

Suzanne Wells:

Oh, gosh, and you said it was an hour away. Yeah, we,

Unknown:

we made I had the night before. I had kind of pre planned where we were going to go. I wanted to make sure it was well out of fire zone. And you know, there wasn't just our fire. There was the Pacific pallet stage fire. So there were little fires erupting kind of all over. So I also wanted to make sure it was a pet friendly hotel, and so we kind of knew where we were going anyway. So we, we all got in our cars, we met at a Target parking lot a couple like out of the evacuation zone called the hotel, got our rooms, and we're on our way.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, well, again, glad you're safe and that your home was not damaged, but

Unknown:

the packing your car, knowing that you're you might not come back to a home is it is quite eye opening how little you care about and we had more space in our car. But besides, like we said, a thing of luggage each for so we had something to change into, and like your medicine and your passports and your pets, I looked around at all of the stuff that I had for eBay for myself, and it was just like, leave it, you know, like, let's just go. And I think that a benefit to what we went through was that realization that I told I told my husband for, you know, our 20th meeting, each other anniversaries coming up this month, or in February, and which might be the month that this is on, it's also Valentine's Day. I'm like, for My Valentine's present, get me a dumpster so I can just start throwing stuff away,

Suzanne Wells:

right? Yeah, that's it's very in your face when you have to make decisions on the spot about what, what's important Exactly So, and having less stuff makes it easier, absolutely, or, you know, you could keep stuff in a storage unit, or, you know, in a safe place, but Again, it's, you know, it's like photographs and memorabilia from, you know, your family and that kind of thing that is important.

Unknown:

Yeah, the non replaceables For sure.

Suzanne Wells:

Yeah, that's what Google Drive is for. I've got all my pictures and recipes, and I put everything in Google Drive. I need to do that. So shared it with my kids and like so it's there that's not going to get destroyed. But, you know, there's those tubs of scrapbooks and baby books and all those things that that are important. So, yeah,

Unknown:

don't tell my kids, though, the tub of their school projects did not make it into the car.

Suzanne Wells:

I don't finger paints, yeah, yeah,

Unknown:

no. Don't need it. Don't need it.

Suzanne Wells:

Yeah, you gotta make a judgment call on that. Well, again, glad you're safe and there was no damage, and you could come home and just pick up where you left off. So I appreciate it. Thank you. Here we are now, let's transition to talking about eBay. What about you started on eBay, and when was that?

Unknown:

You know, I was trying to figure out what's the catalyst for starting. It was about a year and a half ago, maybe close to two years, that I really got into it. I can't think of a specific catalyst, other than I have ADHD and I always need a project. And it was, it's a two fold. I always need a project. And I've always been interested in history, and very like personal history, as opposed to, I mean, I also am interested in big historical events. But the idea that real human beings lived these events is very exciting to me. So I would always kind of go to flea markets and thrift stores, and when I saw things that felt very personal, like there was like a real human connection to it, I always wanted it and maybe sort of hoarded it, and got to a point where I realized I probably need to get rid of some of the stuff that I'm hoarding. And then when I realized people wanted it too. It felt more like a a mission to save these things and get it into the hands of people that really care about it. Does that make any sense? Probably, yeah, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

rescuing, yes. Rescuing is a big part of this. It's not just keeping it out of the landfill, but getting it into the hands of someone that will appreciate it and treasure it exactly, yes, i There's only get that.

Unknown:

There's a, I'm going to be very badly paraphrasing this, but the ancient Egyptians had a a saying that You died twice. You died when your soul leaves your body. You know, like when your body is no longer alive. If and you die, when people stop saying your name, and I feel like it's a whenever I find like, a locket with, you know, Nora written on it, or a picture, I feel like I get to bring that person alive again, even for a little bit of time. And it's a really cool ability we have. Yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

those those possessions, or even if it's someone's name in a document, yeah, it keeps them alive, not keeps their memory alive, but keeps their spirit alive. I think so. Yeah, absolutely okay. So you also have a very interesting regular job you want to share what you do,

Unknown:

so I, I write for TV and movies, mainly sitcoms in in Hollywood. And it's a very fun job, but it is a very, you know, there's, there's lots of downtime and and then there's a lot of not downtime, and eBay was great to, kind of like, fill in the gaps again. ADHD, I have to always have a project going on. So even when I was working, you know, 1416, hour days, and I'd come home at two in the morning, I the way my brain, kind of like settles down, is packing my items to send to the post office the next day. So,

Suzanne Wells:

okay, well, and I can imagine, in that industry, you know, with the actor strikes and the, yeah, exactly, all the different groups of employees that do the strikes, and so you may be sitting there with nothing to do for a little while. So eBay is a good filler. Yeah.

Unknown:

Well, even when you're lucky and you're on a show that is continuously going and there's no strikes, there's always some hiatus time. There's always a few months between seasons where everything just kind of, you need a good month of that to just like, pass out and sleep it all off, and then you get to but then you like, start waking up and becoming a human again, and you're like, I need, I need something to do.

Suzanne Wells:

So how does that work? Or is it a regular nine to five? Do you go on site? Or do you do the writing at home?

Unknown:

So it depends on what we're doing with my writing partner, Jessica and I are developing our own project, or working with a studio, or it's not a show that's on the air right now, then we usually do it from home. It can be on our time, which is not always the best for us, because we are people that like a deadline. So there'll be days where, you know, it's like, All right, we really have to work on X project, and then we spend the first two hours chit chatting about, you know, how best friends do, or like, we should go out to lunch, or like, Let's go for a walk, that kind of stuff. And then we barely get anything done until we absolutely have to, and then we are working on it, non stop, the other version. So if we're on, like a TV show and it's, you know, the season's going, usually, you get to work and you're you go to the writer it's called the writer's room around 10 o'clock. We tend to like to sleep in in our industry, so it's around 10 o'clock. And then you can go home at five on a really good day, or five in the morning on a really bad day, because with TV, there are very set deadlines, and you have to get your work done. So if the studio didn't like a particular script and you're shooting it tomorrow, you have to have that script completely rewritten by then. So our hours can be pretty intense. So again, why when there's downtime, we like to sleep a lot. Have I mentioned how much writers like to sleep. We really, really like to sleep.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. There's a, there's pressure to get, to get the work done by a certain time. And if it's not right, you gotta do it over again and, and

Unknown:

it's not like, you know, math, where there's a right or a wrong answer, it's, it's there. There is no it is done. You know that there's, it's always, can it be funnier? Is this the right way? Is this the right it's, it's a big problem solving that you're doing like you're when you're working on it, your head is just constantly, like, focus, focus, focus. Because it's it again, it is not. It sounds like a fun job. Like I really do make jokes for a living, but when you're really focused on it, on the problem of it, it can be pretty intense. Mm, hmm,

Suzanne Wells:

okay, that makes sense. So you work your eBay around your regular job, and let's talk about where you get your items.

Unknown:

I would say my three, wells four. Alright, again. ADHD, I very, very hyper focused on things like when I have a project, I throw myself into it. So I would say the four places that I get my items from, the most would be. Uh, you know the occasional, oh, it's a Thursday. I've got some free time. I'm going to stop into these thrift stores. That would be one the most would be whatnot. I get so much stuff and whatnot. The problem with whatnot, or the great thing about whatnot, is it's 24 hours, so you're sitting in, you know, you can't fall asleep, and it's a one o'clock in the morning. There's always a whatnot auction to look through. Three would be online auctions like high bid. They're also some one or two local auctions that are also on hybrid that I can go and so that's a weekly auction I do every every week. And then fourth would be flea markets. We Southern California has some really, really great flea markets. And the best part about flea markets is you get to develop relationships with the vendors. So I feel like even if I'm not particularly interested in buying anything that weekend, which, let's face it, is never going to happen. But let's say I wasn't interested in buying anything, I always go just to say hi to my friends. See how everybody's doing. I'm very curious to see who's still there. The Flea Market coming up, because a lot of them lived in the fire zone. So I'm hoping, I hoping I see a lot of familiar faces this weekend. Okay, right?

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, so we talked a little bit about, we both do online auctions, and like you said, there's just always going to be stuff to buy, no matter where you're looking. And I got a big order of stuff this week, 80 items. And I, you know, I'm like, Okay, no more looking at the auctions. My time is gonna be spent listing this stuff. So

Unknown:

you say that to yourself, that's really hard, you know, that's good to say, do you

Suzanne Wells:

actually do of constantly trolling those auctions? Like, let me see what they have. And once you start buying, you get all the emails, oh, yeah, Texas auctions and the Maryland auctions and Pennsylvania

Unknown:

Oh, how much do you love Pennsylvania auctions? Oh, I know. Yeah. Great, great, great, great grandparents stuff in their basements because they

Suzanne Wells:

just start getting those emails like, Oh, let me take a peek see what they have.

Unknown:

I that is absolutely my worst trait, is my inability to shut it off. Like it's just so tempting and it's all, you know, yes, online auctions are a joy and a curse at the same time.

Suzanne Wells:

Exactly. They are, they're they're so available. I have things shipped to me. Do you pick em up or have em shipped?

Unknown:

So there's two local auctions that I will pick things up from, but nine times out of 10, it's shipping. And I have to thank you for that, because the tip of always look and see the in house shipping like I won't even go to an auction that doesn't have in house shipping. I made that mistake once where I bought a couple of items that were like $1 $2 like at most, maybe I spent $6 and the shipping. There was stuff in the pictures that that weren't even in the pictures that they shipped to me, the shipping was$140 well, never, never, never, never, yeah, I

Suzanne Wells:

gotta pay attention to that, because I don't even think they care. Well, some of them get it. Some of them say, you know, we only charge you the exact shipping. Some say, oh, it's going to be a service fee of five to $10 per box. Yeah. Some just say, our shipping is done by such and such. And if it's the UPS store, they just jack it up. Yeah, if it says our

Unknown:

shipping is, you have to contact X person for our then just run away from the auction. Yeah. And because

Suzanne Wells:

there's plenty of them out there that don't do that, you just have to find but

Unknown:

you'll also find the ones that you know, I feel like good e bears, obviously try to ship and as efficiently and cheaply as possible for the people that they're buying from. And a lot of the octon houses are like, great. They bought it. Throw it in. They're not care. They're they don't have time, because they have so many products. They're not going like, Alright, what's the best dimensions I can pack this box in or like, if I don't, if I pack this in here. Can we jam it in and get her a little they're just throwing stuff in boxes and sending it to you. So, right, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

I bought a lot of trolls and some horse ribbons and something else that was a quantity of things, and that box came and all of it was just dumped in there. It wasn't even separated, like, each thing in its own plastic bag or anything. And I was like, Yeah, wow, I did that in a hurry, but that's okay. None it was fine. Nothing broke. It wasn't anything breakable. It was just normally, it's everything separated by, like, the auction number. Oh, yeah. Number, whatever. And I was like, Okay, maybe it was this guy's first day, or, I think it might have been during their Blizzard time.

Unknown:

Might have also been that guy's last day. I don't care anymore, yeah, and

Suzanne Wells:

you never know. But I got everything. It was fine. So anyway, let's talk about some things that you've sold. So

Unknown:

I actually made a list. I'm so impressed with the health, but I want you to give any small piece of cardboard, yeah, that I had to cut out to ship something yesterday. So the first big like, hey, eBay is pretty cool. Item was, I had started getting into costume jewelry, and I knew that, you know, right, this was about a year and a half ago, two years ago, so rhinestone jewelry was even more popular that it, you know, starting to taper off a little. And I went to a local flea market, or not flea market thrift store, and there was, like, a rhinestone brooch. And I was like, I asked to see it, and it had a name on the back. Didn't register the name. Could barely read it. I'm 46 now. Well, I was born in 1978 I know you do ages and dates and not ages, but so my eyes are starting to, like, fail me. So, oh, it's pretty. I'll buy it. And it was pretty expensive too. It was like, 20 bucks. But I was like, it's really pretty. There's some it felt like quality. I took it to the car and, like, use my phone to, like, zoom in. And it was a Shriner brooch. So Shriner, New York, if you see that name on a brooch or earrings or anything, don't even think about it. Just take it, like, just buy it immediately. So that brooch sold because there was, like, a little bit of damage on when I didn't know what I had. So I, like, threw it in my purse and stuff. So having done that, I think I might have tiny, chipped some of the rhinestones. So with that damage, it sold to China for 500 bucks. If it wasn't that damage, it would have been like 800 again. It was a book piece, like you could find it in a book Shriner, a lot some Shriner is not marked, but there are some. The more that you you know. Again, this eBay is a knowledge game, so the more you learn about it, the easier it is to spot. I've never found another one in the wild, so maybe it's not that easy to spot. But that was the first time I was like, Oh, hey, this is pretty cool. Um, my biggest sale was a whatnot auction. Somebody was like, I had a bag of costume jewelry, and I saw a bracelet in it that looked really nice and like it looked like quality, the way that the clasp was and stuff. And I was like, That is a special bracelet. I'm going to bid on this. And it was for a whole bag. And I think I got it up to, I think I bought it for like, 28 bucks for the bag, and then with whatnot, it's shipping and taxes. And when I got it home, I saw that it was marked fight 585, on the back, which is 14 karat gold. And I took it to a jeweler to make sure. And it was, it was like a big, thick 14 karat gold bracelet that sold on eBay for $2,200 so that was my biggest one. And then nice, yeah, that was a crazy one. And then also on whatnot, which everybody should be just going to whatnot. Now, after this conversation, but another lot. I love ephemera. Again. I like history. I like things that are very personal. And it was just a big pack of, like, letters and random stuff. And one of the letters had a Pearl Harbor, like, postmark on it. So I was like, I'm I will do whatever I can to get this. And the bidding for that one went up to 38 great. It's even came in the cutest, old metal box. So I was like, even the metal box is cool, like, I'm this is going to be great, besides a lot of other really good stuff in that, like, there was somebody's divorce decree from 1920 that said, from here on in blank. Name is a single woman, which I thought was so cool. And want to hang out, but it so that Pearl Harbor letter was postmarked Pearl Harbor. So the bombing of Pearl Harbor happened in December. It was postmarked July. It was you opened the letter, and it was from the USS, Arizona, which was the the ship that's the most, the most famously destroyed ship, like everybody on the crew basically died. And it was two pages of this guy, kind of chatting with his friends. And I looked it up, and the man who wrote the letter was one of the people that died on Pearl Harbor and that I really wanted to keep so I listed it really high. Because I was like, This feels so special. I don't want anybody to buy it, but somebody did buy it, and they bought it for$1,200 so that was my, my two biggies, and my getting started big one.

Suzanne Wells:

So those are, oh, wait it was that one letter that sold for that much. One

Unknown:

letter. Yeah, it was the one letter, but it was two pages with the USS Arizona heading in the envelope that was dated Pearl Harbor. And the guy signed it so we knew who it was, and we could see that he was one of the guys that passed away. Oh, gosh, yeah. Pretty crazy. Did

Suzanne Wells:

you ever hear from the buyer about where they why they bought it, or anything like that?

Unknown:

He talked a little bit. I think he's just a history buff, especially Pearl Harbor. So it's, I've looked and they're not all Pearl Harbor letters go for that much. But there are, you know, I saw a story about one guy who was buying letters from a particular sailor so he would pay up for those letters. I think this guy just thought, as I did, man, this is so cool. You know, this is such a huge piece of history. And the guy's letter was so charming, like he told jokes, and he, you know, he was a bit of a horn dog. You like talking about women. And it was it, you know, it was really cool to get to put a person to the event, you know, right.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, so do you, obviously, you buy on whatnot frequently is, do you have a schedule for that, or you just jump on whenever?

Unknown:

Unfortunately for my husband, I jump on whenever. So I Yes, I am. I would say there are certain sellers that you just kind of you start understanding who the sellers you like are, and I tend to gravitate towards certain ones more than others, and they tend to be at certain times, so probably an early evening is my hot spot for whatnot. But the problem is, you can literally go on at any time, and there's something there.

Suzanne Wells:

Yeah, I can see that would be quite addicting.

Unknown:

Have you ever tried whatnot? Suzanne, I haven't.

Suzanne Wells:

No, I haven't learned how to do that yet. I need to check that out, because I'm always looking for new ways to do things and more efficient. You know,

Unknown:

everything is everything is a knowledge game, which I think is why, another reason I love ebay so much or thrifting so much, it's all about what you know, and do you know more than the other people that are in the auction or in the you know? It's like, you'll say something, and everybody else will see it as just like, oh, it's an old shirt. And you'll be like, I know that brand. Like,

Suzanne Wells:

wait a minute, that was made in Hong Kong, exactly that was, you know, this and that and the other. And that's what I do, oh yeah. And shopping the online auctions is I look for box lots and like, what's Oh yes, and what's in there that they don't know about that or that somebody else might not see, yeah? And to me, that's fun. I

Unknown:

completely agree. It's a great hunt, yeah, the treasure hunt and so with whatnot, you can do different categories. So there'll be like a vintage jewelry category, there'll be like a candles category, like very specific categories, or my favorite is there's like, a garage sale and storage unit category, which are, and if you find the right people that literally just bought a storage unit, or, like, I got this, I got this that, you know, when the people selling it don't know what it is, either. And the you know that is, that is Nah, that is chef's kiss. Like, started at$1 the people in the room don't want to spend much, and you're like, I know exactly what that is, and that's coming home with me right

Suzanne Wells:

now. How's the shipping work on whatnot? It

Unknown:

depends on it's really cheap. Um, most of the auctions cap at 877 so once you've hit 877 no matter what, like I've bought, you know, boxes and boxes of priority, uh, mailers. And it's only been 877 some auctions. Every eight pounds will start recharging you. 877 again, but it's never going to and it tells you, um, every time you're have the opportunity to bid on something, it'll tell you what the shipping is. Oh, right there on the screen Exactly. There's no I want

Suzanne Wells:

to try that. I just haven't made myself try. I just I warned because it's new. It's a little intimidating because I don't know how

Unknown:

it works. I warn you, it will suck your time. I also bought

Suzanne Wells:

a lot of, I don't know how much Fisher Price loving family doll. House furniture and people, oh, that's a huge lot. And I'm I need to separate and figure out how I'm going to sell that. Like all the people together, all the furniture, like the bedroom furniture, there's duplicates of a lot of things. So I had to figure that out. But I kept seeing that Fisher Price loving family stuff. And I was like, Oh, here's an auction for it. I'm going to just, even just to learn on it,

Unknown:

exactly, yeah, yeah, the grandparents, right. Are they the one? Yeah, the grandparents

Suzanne Wells:

are the valuable ones. But there was a couple of vehicles in there too, and they they're worth money. So even if I don't make a huge profit, at least I'll learn which things, as I always, you know, I'll learn which things are most valuable.

Unknown:

But, and again, that's part of the game. It's all it's all learning. I find myself getting somewhat lazy these days where, like, I got a bunch of Fisher Price lots on an online auction, and maybe we bid against each other, and I'm just kind of like listing them now. It's like, Fisher Price, and I know I can make more money if I do what you're doing. And separate is like, here are the people here, the whatever. It's just, you know, where, where do I put my time right now? But I think, I think what you're doing is the right way to do it, and hence the name of your podcast. But I think, I think what I'm doing is the lazy person just, just get it out of the

Suzanne Wells:

way. Just, who knows, I may just do one giant lot with everything. I don't know gotten there yet. But I just thought, Oh, this is something you don't see every day. Certainly aren't going to see something this with this many pieces at a thrift store. Oh, my God, good toys at our thrift stores.

Unknown:

I could not agree, more puzzles, lots of puzzles. I've learned that lesson that, um, I don't need any more puzzles. No matter how steel they are. I do not need to put another puzzle in this house well. And

Suzanne Wells:

like during COVID, puzzles were moving pretty well. Everybody was at home and needed stuff to do, and I sold a lot of puzzles, but that slowed down for me. I

Unknown:

see, I keep hearing about how great reselling was during COVID, and I am so crushed. Like, not like, I'm hoping for another pandemic, but no, but boy, did I miss did I miss the boat on that one?

Suzanne Wells:

Well, you can't think like that. You know, unfortunately, with Helene, the hurricane that you know, tore up our part of the country, and other storms and the fires, and, you know, people are going to be replacing things, that's true, and they're going to come to eBay to do it inexpensively. You know, even if they do get money from insurance claims, why wouldn't you stretch that as far as you could? So I feel like, as people rebuild from all these disasters, that eBay is going to be valuable to them, because they can find that exact thing they had, that they loved that is now destroyed, and replace it.

Unknown:

That is such a smart point, you're right.

Suzanne Wells:

And you know, don't feel bad that you missed out on the selling on COVID, because that was just such a unique time, and I sold a lot of athletic clothing during that time. Right around July of that year was one of my best months ever, because everything opened back up and it got warm and people wanted to be outside, and they're jogging and riding bikes and doing all the outdoor activities, and everyone was just so happy to be able to to be out there again. Yeah, and a lot of stores weren't still weren't open. You couldn't try on clothes, even if you tried to order online, it was slim pickings. There just weren't a lot of sizes or anything available. If you go in the stores, there wasn't a lot available, and you couldn't try things on for like, two years. Yeah, that was so why not just buy it online anyway? Yeah, yeah, it

Unknown:

sounds like a ray of sunshine and otherwise, pretty horrible storm there. Yeah. And

Suzanne Wells:

who knows what criteria, what situations are going to come together again to to make people turn to eBay, but I just think it's an ongoing thing. I hear that all the time when, especially those little stuffed animals and loveies, you know, I my kid, lost their lovey at Disney, or they threw it out the car window. And it's, it's just replacing things all the time. That's

Unknown:

so true, yeah, well, tell

Suzanne Wells:

the story about the soap,

Unknown:

the soap, oh, gosh, what's so I still have, still have a couple packs right next to me over here. Okay, because inspired by you. I love estate sales and but I would never go to the bathrooms like that. Didn't feel like something I needed to do. But inspired by you and the. Idea of all of these products, especially soaps that are, you know, discontinued. I went into an estate sale bathroom, saw a whole bunch of tone and old ivory soaps, and they were still wrapped and in their like little four pack packages. And I added it to my pile, you know, as the guys adding me up, and I was like, oh, and these soaps. He was like, old soaps. Just take them. And those old soaps sold for, I don't remember how much, but like, 40 bucks. Like, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

I saw, I saw that. And I was like, really, it was one bar of tone soap sold for $40 it was a two pack of tone maybe it was one. I don't even

Unknown:

remember anyway, it was,

Suzanne Wells:

it was. It was a package, so maybe there's two in there. But yeah, here's the thing, gold soap

Unknown:

sold for $40 Yeah, like, yeah. You just never know again. It is all about knowledge. It is just finding those little things that other people don't know about. And who knows about soap? Who's going into an estate sale, pushing people out of the way to get to the and I well, I

Suzanne Wells:

think some people do know about the bathrooms and the Health and Beauty and the perfumes, but other people are more focused on the high dollar stuff, the flatware and the dinnerware and the collectibles, and I mean Coca Cola stuff. You can have all that. I think very little of that's worth anything there's because it was so mass produced. You were

Unknown:

just saying about silverware. I on an online auction recently. There was a, you know, it's not actual silver, it's like, you know, Sterling stainless steel or whatever. And there was just, like, a whole bunch of it. This was the auction that is close to my house, so I didn't have to ship it, and they just had, like, a big box of old stainless steel stuff, and nobody been on it. So I was, like, five bucks. Yes, please. Thank you. And I, like, took it home, and it was three different types and one package all together and sold for like, 40 bucks. Like, great. The other one is still sitting in one of my eBay drawers. But the third one was like, some Danish one. And this is why I bought it, because I saw the design, and I was like, that looks like mid century modern, you know, Norwegian Danish kind of feel. And that set sold for 250 bucks recently, and it's like, again, stainless steel. Who wants it? Everybody's looking for the fancy stuff. But that's this, that's, that's the secret, like, that's the, it's look for the things that everybody else will roll their eyes at. But you know, you know, there's, there's something special there. Yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

that somebody called that the challenge of the leftovers. It's

Unknown:

brilliant, exactly. Yeah, I know you had mentioned that you don't tend to go to estate sales on the first day, and I am first off again. Writers like to sleep, so I'm not getting up super early to go anywhere. I'm not going to be waiting at the end of five in the morning. And I've never gone to an estate sale or a flea market or anything where I haven't found stuff, and it's I didn't have to, you know, jokingly, I will never push anybody other way. I'm joking when I say that, but it's like, I never have to, like, elbow my way through anything. I never have to wait in the line. There's still stuff there. And, yeah, I'm sure I missed great items that people are going to sell for a lot, but there's always more and and and the the hunt, the treasure hunt, is finding the ones that aren't as obvious, that aren't that everybody's not grabbing for. You know, right?

Suzanne Wells:

Well, I have gone to estate sales on the first day, and I just prefer a more laid back treasure hunting experience, where there's just it's not as aggressive. I'm just that's not my personality. You just have to evaluate what you like to do and the environment you like to treasure hunt, because it is. It's our job.

Unknown:

But I also think that's why we both tend to gravitate toward online auctions. You don't have to worry about the crowds, like, I'm really in my pajamas, you know, drinking some tea on the couch, swiping my whatnot, or, you know, zooming into the little pictures on the online auction and Google lensing the different things to see if it's worth it. And you don't have to, though, I will say that one benefit to face to face stuff, as we had mentioned before is there's something nice to meeting people that are like minded. And that is something that you don't get from the online auctions, and you don't get from whatnot, is those connections you make with people that when you see somebody that has something cool in their cart, that's not the the it thing right now, but it's got some really, you know, it's, it's cool, and it's got a story to it. And you just know that that person is interested in the same, interested in history the way you are, or interested in saving things the way you are, or doesn't care about disposable target purchases as much, you know, it's, it's a great way to connect. To people, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah. I love talking to other resellers and meeting other resellers. I have no problem with that. It's just we all set up our lives the way we want them to be, and like I don't go to the grocery store on Saturdays chaotic in there. And that's the benefit of working for yourself, working at home, where you can adjust your schedule, I try to do any errands or appointments or anything during the week. Oh, I don't have to fight the weekend crowds, and that just flows over into the the reselling part is, you know, fewer people the better. Yes, I'm not anti people or anything. It's just from a efficiency standpoint. And there's one particular thrift store that is, is the worst. On senior day, they only have two cashiers, and the lines are really long. And I was like, you know, this isn't working for me anymore. I'm in here too long. I need to be able to get in here and do my business, get my stuff and go to the next place, yeah,

Unknown:

well, you'll be able to find things in that store on non senior day too. It's like exactly there's nothing there that is so important that you have to wait in a really long line for

Suzanne Wells:

well, and I even heard that they, the management said, you know, they hold back putting items out on senior day so that they're not sold with the discount. So if you go the next day, you might get better stuff that wasn't there before.

Unknown:

I think that's who knows, not just that one store. I bet a lot of stores do that. Yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

so I wanted to ask you, because of your location in California, what are your thrift store prices? Like

Unknown:

they're not great. So my, my mother in law, lives outside of Philadelphia, and I've heard you had another guest that said that that area was like thrifting mecca of the country.

Suzanne Wells:

I think. Stephanie, yeah. Stephanie,

Unknown:

I can agree that going there the prices were like, oh my god, like, so much better. So the good wills and the salvation armies etcetera, are that probably higher than what you would expect from where you live, the some of the more, like localized, like church groups and stuff, you can find some that are, like, reasonably priced, but some really look at eBay now, so, like, you'll go in and, you know, we're talking like, maybe 50% off of, yeah, I can be very specific for you, not necessarily for the podcast, but I went to, I'll tell you the three things I bought from from Goodwill yesterday, what the prices were? So, yeah, this stupid little lounge, lounge, whatever. Oh, looks like a very small, yeah, it was, it's like a little lounge fly, mini thing. But, uh, the online comps were like, in the 50s to 70s. But that was like $1 bag for a tiny little bag, right? Cool thing I got you're coming with me, Suzanne, so that

Suzanne Wells:

so she's showing me some Mickey Mouse. It looks like goofy. Oh, I'm so sorry.

Unknown:

It's this, like old 90s. I hate saying the word old and 90s at the same time, because there's nothing about the 1990s it's this big Disney animatronic Christmas thing. Okay, the comps, there's not a lot, but the the comps right now, for the two that are available are like, 500 bucks. I don't think I'm gonna get 500 bucks for but it was $60 so, okay, that over a cup, over 100 hopefully. But, like, it's stuff like that. I'm not, you're not gonna find a cool animatronic Christmas piece for like, $2 that's why estate sales and garage sales are and flea markets are the way to go, right? But the the Thrift the thrifting, the thrift stores are more like, Oh, I've got some time on my hands. You know, it's either this or, like, go to Chick fil A. And as much as I love Chick fil A, I don't need Chick fil A all the time. So it's like, it keeps me out of Chick fil A,

Suzanne Wells:

right? Yeah, at least you're finding something you can make money on. It's all

Unknown:

that treasure hunting game feel to it. Where it's it's fun to walk out and be like, nobody saw this. Nobody wants this, all right? Nobody wants this. Yeah, it is. It

Suzanne Wells:

is a game we play. And some of these things I've purchased lately online. I'm a little nervous. It's out of my comfort zone. But, you know, and it may not sell for two years. I mean, it's an investment, and then, you know, I'll sell things every week that I've had for over a year. So something yesterday I had for a year and a half. So I know that, you know, you gotta get it listed. You gotta keep listing, but may not come to fruition for a while, but if you've been listing the whole time, all that other stuff coming down the pipeline is going to sell. So

Unknown:

it's always fun.

Suzanne Wells:

You sometimes it sells in five minutes. You know? Yeah, you don't know.

Unknown:

Yesterday, I had two things sell. At different times. One I was listing some of my I had mentioned to Suzanne earlier that the way I do my listing the night of whatever I bought that day, I take pictures of so it's always on my cell phone, and that way, at any point, if I'm at my kid's soccer practice and I'm sitting there for an hour and a half. Great. I can list, list, list. So I list a lot at night, like right before I go to bed. You know, it's kind of like a downtime thing. And I listed this big thing. It's like a 13 set of cards, 13 packs of cards in a big box. And I got it for$2 on whatnot, and I listed it, and they bought it, like, within two minutes. So that was, like, super fast. It was like 20 bucks. It wasn't like a crazy sale. But then later that night, I got somebody bought something that I had listed maybe a year and a half ago, and it's like, you just never know, and it's very those are the two most exciting sells for me. Are the I just listed this great and, holy crap, somebody bought like, Finally, that's out of

Suzanne Wells:

here. Now that's when you say I knew somebody would buy this. Yes,

Unknown:

I have as unconfident as I can be in other things with my stuff, I'm like, Oh, they're wrong. They're everybody's wrong for not buying this. This is awesome.

Suzanne Wells:

So is your husband on board with your eBay business and helping you?

Unknown:

My husband is a incredibly great guy, an incredibly great father, an incredibly great husband who has zero tolerance for money. He now, once he started seeing that I'm not losing money, that I'm making money, and he's more supportive. And he's the guy when I'm working full time at like a job, will take the stuff to the post office. So he is, like, a really good guy. We have a rule, and I think it's a very fair rule that eBay purchases Do not leave the eBay room, which in our case, is a garage. But like, I'm not, like, at one point I was like, oh, you know, the kids have some space on their bookshelves. I'm gonna move some of the books on people, like, keep it downstairs. And I thought that was really fair and honestly, really smart. So it, it kind of, it keeps me, it keeps me organized, because I have to fit everything in this space. And it once the doors shut, you know, you can pretend like the chaos that is in this room doesn't exist. So that's right,

Suzanne Wells:

it's, yeah, it's keeping it contained. And there's something called inventory creep. Once you start letting it out, it just kind of creeps everywhere. So I'm the same with my inventory. I keep it in closets so I don't have to look at it. I have those Fabric Cube storage units, and I put things in there, just because sometimes you don't want to look at it. You've had enough that day, and you just want to be in your home without inventory being everywhere. So I get it, and it's

Unknown:

easier to find. And, yeah, right, the more organized, the that you know that stress when you've got a couple of orders that day and you're like, Where is that guy? Is it's, it's not my favorite feeling, right?

Suzanne Wells:

Exactly. So well, we have been chatting for almost an hour now. Um, what's on your schedule today?

Unknown:

Um, I have a meeting at two o'clock. I have a meeting in a couple of hours. So in that time, I'm going to maybe run into an estate sale because, okay, yeah, because I have some free time now.

Suzanne Wells:

Anyway, we're going to wrap this up and thank you again for making time for us and sharing your eBay journey. And wow, you had some amazing sales. So good for you. You're doing great. I

Unknown:

really appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, have a good day. Bye, everyone. Thank you bye.

Suzanne Wells:

Next week, my guest is Denise, who has several outdoorsy jobs and manages to fit eBay into her active life. Thank you again for listening and tuning in week after week to hear these reseller chats, I think it is so interesting how everyone has a different story and a different eBay journey, and we can all learn from each other, because you never know when your journey is going to change, and you will have to alter Your business and adapt to whatever's happening. So it's good to know what other people do. Keep working hard, but not too hard. Remember to take time out for self care and to recharge. I mean, we recharge our phones. We also have to recharge ourselves. Make it a great week. Everybody, bye, bye.