eBay Seller Chat with Monica in OK: Full-Time RN, Wife, Mom, Reseller, “Assume You Will be Successful” 🤩

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Transcript

Suzanne Wells: 0:18

Music, hello, e payers, you have landed on episode number 207. Of eBay the right way. Today's date is March 5. 2025 My guest today is Monica in Oklahoma. Announcements, just one well, the dark night of the soul is coming to an end on Saturday night. Don't forget to spring forward one hour. And I don't know why we can't just stay on the same time all year. Falling back an hour in November is it just screws everybody up. And if you're on the East Coast, it's a real bummer, and it gets dark at like 430 in the afternoon. So very depressing. So thank heavens, that is over for another year. Well, really eight months, but who's counting? Okay, now let's hear from Monica. Hello listeners, and welcome back. And I have a Monica with us today. And how are you doing this afternoon? I'm

Unknown: 1:42

doing great. Thanks for having me on the podcast. I'm excited to be here. Yeah.

Suzanne Wells: 1:47

So where are you located? I am

Unknown: 1:49

in Tulsa, Oklahoma, northeast part of Oklahoma. We've been

Suzanne Wells: 1:54

having a lot of Oklahomans on lately. So great. Good for you.

Unknown: 2:00

There's there's good thrifting out here. Lots of, yeah, that's what I

Suzanne Wells: 2:03

hear. I'm gonna have to take a road trip at some point and visit all these people in Oklahoma. Absolutely, they're fantastic thrifting opportunities. So we'll get into that in just a minute. So we usually start off with the guests talking about how they found eBay and started selling. Okay,

Unknown: 2:27

well, I have known about eBay for a long time. Um, I've done it intermittently, you know, as life called for it. I think the first time I ever did it was way back in probably, gosh, the late, late 90s, when we would buy and sell some Pez dispensers on eBay. Yeah, long ago. But then after my, after I had kids, and I would sell maternity clothes that I was getting rid of, or some baby things, just here and there. I hadn't honestly done eBay in in years. As far as selling, I had bought some things I hadn't sold in a long time, until a few months ago. But I had gone on. I had decided we have three boys, and they're all in different parts of the country now. So you think when your kids leave the house, that it gets cheaper, but it just gets more expensive when you're constantly traveling or bringing somebody home. So Right? I thought, well, I'm going to open a vintage booth in one of the vintage malls. And I started, I started collecting stuff, and I put my name on the list for a few different different malls, and it's a long wait. It was probably close to nine months before a spot opened up. And in the meantime, my house is just accumulating more and more of these fines because I thought, well, I need inventory. They should, you know, they could call anytime and and eventually I said, Okay, I have to start getting rid of some of his inventory, because I just didn't know when, when a space would open. So I started listing on eBay in September of last year, and have loved it and loved it. Yeah, had a had a great time doing it was really, I had been hesitant at first, not knowing how much time it would take just to list and to ship and and to do all the things. But it's, I'm getting a pretty good method down and and really enjoy it. So I won't, I won't give eBay up. You won't give it up. No, no, we'll stay regardless of having a booth or not continue to eBay.

Suzanne Wells: 4:47

So who is in your household?

Unknown: 4:50

So in my in my house, just living, here are my husband and myself, okay, all, all three of our kiddos are in college or beyond. Oh.

Suzanne Wells: 5:00

That's tough, yeah, yeah. Where do they attend college?

Unknown: 5:05

So we have one in Chapel Hill, at UNC. We have one that just graduated, and he is deciding on where to go to med school. He was accepted in Michigan and Virginia, so he'll be at one of those places. And then our oldest is in Germany with his wife. So, okay, yeah, we, we have them spread out everywhere. So empty nester, okay, we, we are, we work to travel now at this point,

Suzanne Wells: 5:34

so there's more rooms available to fill up with eBay stuff.

Unknown: 5:38

Yes, there are, yes, and they've been used, for sure. It's funny how

Suzanne Wells: 5:45

it takes over the house, like, oh, I can use this for my shipping room, and I can use this, gosh, office, and then this to store things, and it just keeps spreading. But yes, as long as you're selling, you know, it's not all just sitting there, accumulating. Then

Unknown: 6:02

that's right, it's moving. It's a it's a changing landscape.

Suzanne Wells: 6:06

And so your husband, does he help you with the business?

Unknown: 6:10

He really enjoys it now. He really does. He he was hesitant at first. He was but a couple good sales. And he was all in. But he does. He always, he runs to the post office. He helps me with with some shipping and and, of course, he loves to go out and help me source. So he's, he's a big help there.

Suzanne Wells: 6:35

So I assume that you guys know different things we do. I

Unknown: 6:40

he knows definitely more of the mechanical and electronic items and but it's funny, he is, he is learning a lot about some of the collectibles and the vintage and I was at a I had a prior engagement a couple weeks ago, and he's, he's calling me, texting me while I'm there, and he's like, Oh, the lady in front of me got the got the brass mortar and and pestle. I can't believe she beat me to it. And I thought, I can't believe you know what that is you're texting to tell me this good

Suzanne Wells: 7:17

for him, right? Yeah, yeah, it can be a blessing or a curse. If your spouse is on board with this, because previous guests have said, Yeah, I can't take my husband with me anymore, because he just brings home all this stuff. And you know, he'll buy every tool they have, or exercise stuff or man cave stuff, or whatever it is. So it's just you have to draw the line on how much you bring home is, yeah, dancing with with all this good sourcing, like you just have to make decisions, to leave things behind. Can't get it all, he

Unknown: 8:02

has definitely cost me more a time or two.

Suzanne Wells: 8:05

Well, it's not even that. It's just the stuff, Yep, yeah. Well, let's talk about some of these great things you sold and where you found them in your town.

Unknown: 8:17

Sure. So we have, I use a couple different menus. Our town has got a few good wills that will will have nice things. Sometimes. We've got a few local thrift shops that are that are just individual that support charities and different rescues and groups and things, and a couple of those do really well. And we have a huge market for estate sales. I mean, given any weekend there's, there's half a dozen estate sales to to hit. They're great in finding things. You just have to, you can always find something there. You just have to be careful that you have enough margin to make, to make any profit when you go to the state sales, right? But we have, we have a few, and typically ours will start full price, and by the last day, they're either 50% off, or we have one that goes 75% off by the last day. So if you're able to go, kind of Scout them out first and then, and then be back early for the discount days, you can usually find some good things. And then we have another online company that does online auctions locally. So it's an online auction, but then with local pickup, and that one I've used, I have not, I have not done like the high bid. I'm afraid of the shipping costs. I'm afraid of losing all my margin on shipping. So I have not, I have not done any online auctions that I have to have shipped to me yet.

Suzanne Wells: 9:51

Well, that's good that you don't have to. I've been doing that. You've probably heard me talk about that, and it's sometimes they don't say. On the shipping, they just say that's available. So it's really important to call the company. Their phone number is right there on the listing. And how do you do your shipping? Because if, if they, you know, send everything to the UPS store and have them pack it, you know, I won't even do those that's going to be way too expensive. Or if they say a third party shipper, don't do that, because that'll jack up the price. I won some things the other day. Was two different very old sty stuffed animals and this funky high end hotel laundry bag. It was like a canvas bag. Okay, um, so those are very light, and you can pack the things inside each other, so they didn't have to use packing material, and it was only $11 to ship it. Oh, that's great. So I the stif stuffed animals. I know I can get at least 50 for each of those. And the laundry bag, it just depends maybe 50 on that. I've sold that kind of thing before with, like feed sacks, and people collect those things. So anyway, it's you just have to call and ask them. And

Unknown: 11:20

so you just call them before you even bid on it and find out, before I bid on it, and I was

Suzanne Wells: 11:24

bidding on some police auctions, confiscated merchandise. And, you know, before they had a hundreds of items, and before I did that, I figured out, okay, I need to call them and see what the shipping is, because you don't, you don't want to just wait and find out. And sometimes I'll have it on the auction. Sometimes they won't, so it never hurts to ask, and then I just keep a list of all the ones that are fair shippers and check back on their options all the time. So you kind of have to create a system for keeping track of all because there are so many companies out there, like the ones that they'll say something like, we do all of it in house. We charge $5 for handling fee, and we only charge you the exact shipping so I feel like that's really good business, because more and more people are doing this now, because their store prices are getting more expensive, or as we age, it's harder to get out, or whatever the situation is, not everybody wants to go to The bins and fight the fight and do the shopping, but yeah, just call and ask them

Unknown: 12:47

and you Well, that's that's good to know. I have been so pleasantly surprised by my my online purchases more often and than not, they have been better than I expected. They've either been bigger, just just nicer pieces than what I expected, or there have been kind of hidden pieces that you didn't realize what they were until you get them. And I found some value in those. So I've the auctions have been a lot of fun,

Suzanne Wells: 13:17

well, and also you want to pick lightweight items. So I'm scrolling through, I mean, I see all kinds of fantastic things, but know that giant framed needlework that's not going to be economical to ship, the Griswold cast iron. It's too heavy. It's not doesn't make sense to have that shipped to me. So you want to have a strategy of lightweight things to keep that shipping cost down. But once you start figuring out a system, it works pretty well so, but you've got a good one locally, so maybe you don't need to look any further.

Unknown: 13:59

I well, I would be open to it. Okay, it's always fun to find new places to source so I would, I would definitely get a guy. It's a good idea, though, to call beforehand. I'll remember that.

Suzanne Wells: 14:12

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you can email them too, but I found that the email responses are quite slow, so they're going to answer the phone. Okay, oh, we're, we're going back in time, like actually use your phone to call someone. So they're mostly the online auction, estate sale and thrift stores.

Unknown: 14:33

Yup, that well, and then when Garage Sell season starts, that's, that's the best, as far as finding things for great prices. And we have a nice garage sale season. They will start in probably March, and typically run through about October. So we have, yeah, good long season that you can go find lots of goodies.

Suzanne Wells: 14:55

Do you have items you specialize in? Are you open to anything?

Unknown: 15:00

Yeah, you know, I am pretty open to anything. It's only been, like I said, Since September, so I'm just less than six months, really, of doing this. And originally, in my mind, I thought it would be all, you know, old vintage stuff. But it's just funny, because vintage is so different to different people. There are so many 20 and 30 some things that like to thrift shop and to get bargains, and their idea of vintage is, you know, different than my mom's idea of vintage. So I truly, I just look for things that are well made and different and unique and that you just don't see everywhere. And those are, those are the ones that sell the best for me.

Suzanne Wells: 15:45

Well, on that note, let's talk about some things you have sold. And just a side note, thank you so much for coming on, even though you've only been at it for six months. Because absolutely everybody has a different journey. And I know some people are intimidated by sellers that have been doing this for 2025, years, and you don't have to have that. You can just jump in anytime. And if you've sold one thing on eBay, you have information to share that could help somebody else. So definitely. But this podcast is about sellers from all walks of life, all experience levels. Because you may be learning something today that somebody who's been doing this 20 years doesn't know. Mm, hmm, yeah. Well,

Unknown: 16:33

as far as myself, I was telling you, my husband got on board after after a for, you know, a few good ones. But one of my first ones, we were out going to an estate sale in a garage sale one morning, and the estate sale hadn't opened yet, but there was a garage sale in the neighborhood, so we stopped by and they had this dirty old Coors tabletop bar sign, and there was another one. I don't remember who it was, but I asked the homeowner if they worked, and she said, Well, you know, I'm honestly not sure. We just pulled them out of the attic, let me get an extension cord. And so she plugged them in, and one worked, one didn't. So I said, Well, how much do you want for this? This Coors one, and it was probably a foot and a half tall, and, you know, almost a foot wide, it was kind of pyramid shaped, and, and it lit up and, and she said, Well, how about $5 and I said, that sounds great. And in my mind, I'm thinking that, you know, anything that lights up in his beer somebody's going to want. So we're leaving there, and I left with it and and I'm so happy, and I look at my husband, and he just he doesn't look thrilled about it. And I said, Hey, aren't you excited about this? And he says, Listen, you know, you've been collecting this stuff, and I don't you know the pretty stuff looks nice in the house, but don't you think you're just kind of buying junk now, because this thing was just filthy and old and I mean, it looked like it had been in the attic forever. And I said, Hey, trust me on this one. So we get home, and I cleaned it up and I listed it that day, and I sold it within 12 hours for $225 i and, uh, so the the next weekend he was, he was like, So when are we going to the garage sales again?

Suzanne Wells: 18:30

Yeah, right. Okay, $5 and sold for 225, and, yeah, in less than a week,

Unknown: 18:36

in like 12 hours. I mean, it was the same day. It was by that evening.

Suzanne Wells: 18:40

Gosh, good pick. So he was,

Unknown: 18:43

he was in after that, and we went out the next weekend and went to another garage sale. And I saw, whenever you see something in a box that's, you know, unopened, I like to see what that is, because chances are it's going to sell for for more money. So there was a box out, and I opened it up, and I pull it out, and it's this Snoop Dogg bobblehead, and I was Corona Snoop Dogg and corona bobblehead. And, you know, I mean, it's just cheesy and funny. And I said, But I told Matt my husband. I said, hey, everybody loves Snoop Dogg. We had just finished the Olympics, you know, he had, he had been commentating like he's so popular with every generation right now. So let's ask her. How much for this. It wasn't marked, well, it was $1 Uh huh, and we sold it. I think it took about two weeks, but sold for $86

Suzanne Wells: 19:45

oh, gosh, that's fantastic. All

Unknown: 19:48

right, who would have thought so? It

Suzanne Wells: 19:51

is hard to know on those bobbleheads because so many, but some of them are worth good money. Can't have a rule of like. Every time you see a bobble head, get it, because there's a lot of junk.

Unknown: 20:04

But there are. I have one still sitting in my store that I think has been sitting there as long as nope dog was, but who knows, but again, for $1

Suzanne Wells: 20:15

it's worth a try. What would have been great is if you also found a Martha Stewart bobblehead. Oh my gosh. The two is a set with, like, a bag of Doritos or something, right? That would have been perfect. That's the oddest combination ever. But, you know, it's smart marketing, because they're, they're exposed, literally, audiences to each other, and, you know, doubling their audiences. So you gotta give Martha credit for being creative on that one.

Unknown: 20:45

I tell you, Martha and Snoop both are, are marketing geniuses.

Suzanne Wells: 20:49

Yeah, they are absolutely are. And who's the other one? Shaquille shack. Oh yeah, he does insurance and pizza, and he's got all these businesses, he does it all. Yeah, he does it all. That's great. Okay, now, do you put the same items in your booth that you put in on your eBay and just keep track of that?

Unknown: 21:13

No, no, that would be way too much work for me. Okay, um, really, what I find is the more expensive items sell better on eBay, and a lot of smaller items, lower value items sell better in the booth, which is great, because they don't sell well on eBay because nobody wants to pay $12 and then Another $8 in shipping. So it's, it's honestly been very easy. They compliment each other. Well, I sell a lot of smalls out of the booth, and then some bigger artwork, or just really awkward pieces, heavy pieces in the booth, and then everything else on eBay.

Suzanne Wells: 21:56

Mm, hmm, that makes sense. Yeah, it's hard to keep track of, like, you sold something in the booth, because that's not on site, that's not in your house. So sometimes you probably don't even know. How does that work? Do you go in, like, once a month and get your money and see what's sold?

Unknown: 22:13

Yeah, our mall works. Um, they have an online system, so every night you can log on and they will have, have posted what you sold, so you can check daily and see how your sales are, and then they pay out once a month.

Suzanne Wells: 22:28

And I'm guessing that's electronic like Venmo or something.

Unknown: 22:31

You know, she actually cuts a paper check when she pays us. Okay,

Suzanne Wells: 22:36

everything I

Unknown: 22:37

know, everything else I

Suzanne Wells: 22:39

went to an antique mall when I first moved to South Carolina, just to see, like, what's in here and being flippable. And I bought a few things, and they only took checks or cash for really lady that was like 80, and she'd been running that thing her whole life, and she just never changed the technology. And I said, you know, I got my driver's license out and everything. She's like, Oh, we don't need any of that. We've only had one bounce check in 40 years, or something like that. So that's great. I was surprised even had a check with me. But, you know, people don't carry cash, really anymore. No, people don't when you can Venmo and Zell and debit card and credit card and all the things.

Unknown: 23:30

So, man, my checks still have our old address on it, and we moved seven years ago. That's how often I write a check.

Suzanne Wells: 23:38

Yeah, I know. I think mine's like five addresses ago.

Unknown: 23:45

Well, other items I've sold on eBay I posted not long ago, we found a it's, well, I have to say it's the international sales that I have found the most interesting to see the thing that that people have bought overseas. So, so far, we've, we've shipped something to Canada, to Mexico, to Finland, and now to China, yeah, and I find that so interesting. But we, we bought a cowboy hat a couple weeks ago. We were at an estate sale. And we saw it was, it was $300 at the estate sale, and it was a very nice resist all Beaver Felt black cowboy hat, and it was in the box and and we went back the last day when it was going to be half off to see if it was still there. Well, somebody had thought that the box was for sale, and they thought it said 30, not 300 so they had sold the box and left the hat, I know. I said, Well, that takes away the whole new inbox. You know that value. So I asked the lady. I said, Well, you already made $30 off of the box. So we. You lower the price to 270 and then do half off of of that, since it was last day. And they agreed. So we went ahead and bought the hat at 135 and I listed it, and had a ton of interest. And I assumed, I mean, we're here in Oklahoma, I figured it'd go to Oklahoma or Texas, or, you know, somewhere up the Midwest, and I had an offer for 300 that I declined. And I know, I know, but it was so quick. It was like within a day I so I declined it, thinking that I could probably and I actually had so many watchers, I did what you said. I had been asking 350 so I declined that offer, and I raised the price to 365 and I sold it to a cowboy in Finland. Like within what do they have there that they're and all I could picture was like the, like the Highland cows, the big, long haired, Shaggy cows. Okay. Okay. I have no idea if those are in Finland, but

Suzanne Wells: 26:11

maybe he's gonna do they have the northern lights there. I think so. Watch the Northern Lights. Great. And so it doesn't say their address on when you go to print the label. So did you do some research to figure out where it was going? It says somewhere on

Unknown: 26:32

eBay after they buy it. It says it was pictured. It was, you know, purchased through the international program, and somewhere on there, it says where it's going, even though you only ship to their hub and, you know, in Illinois or wherever, it does say on there where it's where the final destination is. Okay,

Suzanne Wells: 26:52

well, I just usually go to the buyer's feedback page and it'll where they are, because I like to see that too, because I sold a a dinky little dumb lovey for like, 20 bucks, and it wasn't a great brand or anything, and I'd had it for a year, I think I paid 50 cents for it, and it went to Italy. Isn't that funny? Who is this sophisticated person in Italy, buying this dumb toy

Unknown: 27:23

and willing to pay the VAT taxes on it, and then, yeah, you

Suzanne Wells: 27:27

would expect them to buy jewelry or high end clothing or hand or something. But no, it was it. Who knows, it could have been an American living there or or whatever. You know, there's whatever for the kid, you know, keep maybe the kid lost his and this was an exact duplicate. So, yeah, I love interesting things going and try to draw conclusions like, oh, I ship a lot of this product to this country. Uh huh, you know. So when you're sourcing, you're like, oh, this might go to, I don't know this cowboy hat might go to Finland. I don't know. Who knows that's great.

Unknown: 28:10

Well, we went to another estate sale. And we actually went because they had, they had posted online, and they had all of these great Hazel Atlas cocktail shakers and Roly Poly glasses, and just the juice glasses with all the different graphics on them and and, I mean, we're talking they had them lined up on tables in multiple rooms, I mean, dozens of different styles. And so we went to the estate sale specifically looking for for the Hazel Atlas stuff. And when we were there, we I went down into kind of a little sun porch, and they had set up in a corner all this beautiful glass dishes and stemware. And they were the bottoms were, you know, clear crystal, but it was a real light yellow, beautiful. And I, I did a quick Google lens on it, and it came up as a Fostoria pattern. And I asked one of the ladies working there, I said, is this? Do you know anything about this? Is this Fostoria? Because they had the, they had the whole thing priced at $100 for 75 pieces, and it was 25% off day. And she said, You know, I honestly, I just don't know. And I said, Well, okay, I mean, I'll and at my Google ends it, I was pretty sure that's what it was. So we purchased it and and brought it home and did a little more research on it, and it's been incredibly valuable. We sold, I sold four glasses, just four pieces of stemware, for $86 to one person. So that paid for the whole lot. And then I. Had an another lady that that messaged me and asked if she bought multiples, if I would do any kind of discount. And I said, Sure, let me know how you know what you're looking at buying, and we'll go from there. And she wanted eight pieces of the stemware, and so I don't remember, I gave her 10 or 15% off, but anyway, and came up to$165 for those eight pieces of STEM wear. And here we basically paid $1 $1 a piece. So but that one went to China, those eight pieces, and I had no idea when I was messaging back and forth with her that that that's where she was. But after she made the purchase, the that came through, you know, this is an international sale, and and the final destination was China. Good for you. I know I just and I find that so interesting that that somebody looks all the way to Tulsa, Oklahoma to find something halfway across the world,

Suzanne Wells: 31:03

yeah, and you went to some estate sale of some person who passed away, and that was obviously a glass hoarder, right? Picked out some good pieces. And it's just this whole rehoming process that we love as resellers, I think just, you know, you found this over here, and then you put it over there and that person's happy. But,

Unknown: 31:23

you know, it's funny, I wouldn't have even thought about buying a set of dishes that was never on my radar, because I never it just wasn't something I knew about. And you had a guest on that talked about selling to replacements and buying all, you know, all kinds of sets of China and different things. And so I look a little bit now and try to recognize some of the bigger, more expensive names or patterns. And I haven't bought any other big sets besides this one. But it wasn't long after I had listened to that podcast that I thought, well, I should probably check out some of these and see if anything's worth anything. And sure enough, it was worth it. Very

Suzanne Wells: 32:04

good, very good. And I don't know if you saw my post about the lotion, I said to New Zealand, and the lady wanted to return it, but this is for the listeners. Is that anything that's sold through the eBay, standard international program. They want to return it. You just get your money back. Yeah, return. I mean, because they don't, they don't do returns through that system. So, because it was a, I think it was $150 sale, and I was like, I'd never had an international request for return. It was something about it was a different version of the lotion that it's made differently now, you know how they change the packaging in the bottle and all that stuff. But I was like, no, come on and right, and it's not going to be new in the box anymore, because she's opened it and, oh, I was just a heartbreaker, but it was verified through our wonderful people in the group that know so much. They they just, you just get your money back. If they it doesn't get returned. I mean, they get their money back. It does not affect the seller in any way. If you get a request for return during through that program, right? I didn't realize that, because I've never been in that situation. So you know, once it's out of your hands, in their hands, eBay is responsible for damage, loss, and if they want to return it, they just refund the buyer. If they're not happy, and nobody's out, and you know nobody's out, they cover it so, so much better than the days which you weren't on eBay. But it's just either international shipping, where you just took the responsibility yourself. Or then there was the global shipping program, and then they made it even better with the one they have now, yeah,

Unknown: 34:08

this is a great all four things that we have sold out of the country have been$100 or more. So knowing that, that once you've shipped it off to Illinois or wherever eBay's hub is that you're shipping to that it's a done deal is, I mean, it's great because that's a big sale.

Suzanne Wells: 34:25

Yeah, and you're covered. You don't have to worry about anything. No, no worries. Don't file a claim. Don't have to do any of that. So while that was that did give me a heart attack when I saw that she wanted to return it. Not sure. I did learn that you never have to worry about it. You know, that was a good, a good takeaway from that. It was first thing in the morning, and I was like, Oh, come on, don't ruin my day. Have you had any returns yet? Oh,

Unknown: 34:56

just a handful, very few. Um. One of them was definitely a lesson. Um, I had one. I'd sent out a jacket, a London Fog trench coat, kind of jacket that that went at Christmas, and the the buyer ordered it probably two, two and a half weeks before Christmas. So, I mean, they were cutting it pretty close. But I offer I have, I have two Shippings listed so they can do ground advantage, they can do priority if they want to, to upgrade something. And, and they chose ground advantage. Well, when it didn't show up in a week, they wanted a refund. And, and I told them, you know, you'll have to, it's, it's tracking so, but then the tracking, of course, stopped, you know, in the post when there's just no updates, but they make you wait until at least 15 days before the post office will will track it. So anyway, eventually it did deliver, and I told the the buyer, you know, that they were welcome to return it, and they did, and they waited about three weeks before they ever shipped it back to me. And when I got it back, I opened it, and it was a, you know, gray London Fog trench coat. And I thought, Man, this looks a little bit I think they wore it for last month, and have now been it back to me, but whatever, I got it back. I didn't see any holes or anything in it, so I went ahead and hit refund on their money and I was gonna re list the item. And when I went to relist, I noticed my pictures that the lining was different, that they had actually sent me a different coat back switch around. I contacted eBay because the money came out of my, my weekly funds. I have eBay Cash me out weekly. So they took the refund out of my, my balance of funds. And so I contacted eBay to to report that it was a, you know, I didn't receive my item back, and I had the pictures, and I sent it to him, and I said, so I'd like you to put those funds back in my account. Since you know, this is a fraudulent buyer, and the lesson learned, eBay will not do that. If you have willingly, of your own accord, given the refund, then they will not undo that So always, always be 100% sure before you give that refund that you've checked your

Suzanne Wells: 37:27

item before you do anything,

Unknown: 37:31

and I can check like for damages. But I just didn't realize it had been two months since I had seen, you know, this coat that I picked up at Goodwill, and I just didn't realize that lining was the was different. So always really be thorough about that, because they said, Sorry, you,

Suzanne Wells: 37:49

you. That's kind of a rare event. Though. I've been selling clothing this 2003 and I don't get many returns. People think, Oh, I'm not going to sell clothing, because you get so many and it's maybe one a month. Yeah, and half the time they request it and they don't even send it back. Mm, hmm, more than half, and I got a return the other day. It was a $10 tennis skirt. Okay? She paid $7 to have it shipped to her in Guam Oh my gosh. Is a US territory, protectorate, whatever it's called, and it's within the USPS. I looked up on the map where it is because I thought it was in the Caribbean. No, it's over by New Zealand. I'm like, so she sent it all the way back from there. Another $7 so she spent $14 for nothing, you know? And I just this always puzzles me. When people do that, when they spend more on the shipping, both ways than the item, right? They have nothing to show for it, and either they can't do math or they just don't care.

Unknown: 39:04

Yeah, I don't know what

Suzanne Wells: 39:05

you know. And it's like, you know, if it was me, I would resell it. That's what I do with things I order on Sure, I just resell it and get more than I paid for it and or give it to a friend or something. You know, just that whole, I don't understand that whole paying for shipping and you get nothing.

Unknown: 39:25

I don't understand it either. Well, I've been lucky. I do, I do some clothes. I think I've had two other requests for things not fitting. And one, they never sent back. And one, she sent back right away. And it was, you know, easy peasy. I re listed it, and I'm sure it'll sell again,

Suzanne Wells: 39:44

yeah, and most of the time it's just it didn't fit. Yeah, that's completely reasonable with buying online, because everything runs differently, even if the measurements are there. Well, how stretched material does it stretch at all? Stretch too much? Much, and I just, I would never expect anybody to buy clothing online and not have a option to return it, because I wouldn't want that so but it's the whole taking action to return it, part where we lose them, because most of the people are, oh, I love this so much. It's so beautiful. I really wanted to wear it to such and such, but it just doesn't fit. It's like, wrong with it, no problem. And really, three out of four times you just never hear from them again. They open the return and waiting for buyer to ship item, and then it just times out and they don't like the time's up, and they can't send it back,

Unknown: 40:39

right? Y'all clothes have been they have been easy. They're so easy to ship. I was hesitant about them at first, because there are so many different brands, and just knowing what is saturated in the market, because there's a lot of things, I mean, I feel like under armor, and some of those might be North based or good brands, but the market is so saturated that they don't sell very quickly. But that's where watching some YouTube videos or listening to the podcast, that's where you can really learn a lot from other resellers, and that's where I learned, I think they were both off of some of your podcasts, somebody talking about St John's and I found a St John's sport dress at an estate sale with just all the others. So it was $5 or less that I turned around and sold for 70 and then just the Chico's travelers. So knowing, like, even within Chico's, like, what specifically to look for, not necessarily just Chico's, but the travelers are what sell well. And, yeah, travelers,

Suzanne Wells: 41:51

and if it's any kind of Bohemian look, fringe, you know, the cream of the crop of Chico's, not just single piece you find, you know, the basic pieces are good, but you're going to get the most for the, you know, the sheer or the boho tops or things that could be worn as a swimsuit cover up, you know, looking glamorous by the pool, dripping in gold jewelry, drinking that kind of stuff, you know, cruising where that, right? Yeah, it still can be. It could be a good flip. You just have to pick the right pieces.

Unknown: 42:27

Well, I'm I like clothing. I'm definitely learning more and more about what brands sell, brands that I'm not necessarily familiar with, but that's I just I love having access to all the other resellers, because there is so much to learn, but you can learn so much from other people. You don't have to do it all on your own, right?

Suzanne Wells: 42:49

Everybody's willing to share, because you can't be everywhere at the same time to get all this stuff, no. So if you know, you get back what you put out there. If you're willing to share what you know, others will be willing to share with you, and everybody can just be smarter, and we're just never going to run out of stuff to sell.

Unknown: 43:09

No, isn't that the truth?

Suzanne Wells: 43:14

You have any other sales you want to talk about?

Unknown: 43:16

Well, other things that have done it really well. We we went to, you know, a couple of things have been things you don't necessarily know what they are, but it's almost, it's as much an art as a science, I think, just just going out and seeing things, feeling them, and feeling, you know, weight and quality, and being able to see when things are well made. Um, I've stumbled across things, and my husband and I were at an estate sale, and I've learned to look on the mantles, because people put a lot of their prized items on a mantle. So you may not know what it is, but there's a good chance if they gave it that front and center billing that it there may be some value up there. So there were a couple. There were two brass, well, they said potpourri in them. They're just, they looked like, kind of like little urns full of potpourri. And anyway, what's funny? We went the first day, and they were, each, I think, $30 and I didn't want to pay that much for them. And I mean, looking back, they were worth it at $30 but I thought, Oh no, we just happened to go by there again on the last day, when they were 75% off, and they were still there. So we paid, you know, seven and a half bucks or so for for each one of them. And in fact, I think I still I have one. Can we pick one? If you can see a little, yeah, they're just kind of a little art deco urn. Yeah, they're native, like brass. It is. It's a heavy brass, so I don't know why I didn't buy it the first day.

Suzanne Wells: 44:58

Oh, for the listener, she's showing. Maybe a six inch tall brass looks like a little urn, like it does somebody's ashes in it, or whatever did. You can't see if they're ready in there.

Unknown: 45:12

Dog in this thing. I know

Suzanne Wells: 45:15

you bought that, plus the dog inside.

Unknown: 45:20

And it's got a great little, you know, Art Deco design on it, and so on the bottom, it was stamped mantines. And we looked it up, and it's a French company, and these were made in the 1920s and I put it on eBay and sold it, I mean, really quickly, for $156 and I look back, I wasn't willing to pay, I think it was 25% off when we saw it, so I wasn't willing to pay the, you know, $20 or something a piece. And here they're worth 100 and and 50 that I sold it for. So yeah, so it was great flip for $5 but it was another lesson. And you know what? If it's on that mantle, maybe do a little more research and pay attention. There's probably value there.

Suzanne Wells: 46:07

And how many of them did you buy? Bought two of them. Okay, so you said that

Unknown: 46:11

one left? Yup, I haven't listed it yet. I'm kind of enjoying it. Um, before I list it. Okay. Oh,

Suzanne Wells: 46:18

yeah, we all do that. Yeah, what is that thing behind you? That blue thing with the glass on top of it, this thing? Yeah, that's an interesting piece.

Unknown: 46:30

So I was at another actually garage sale, and it was two sisters, and they had owned an estate sale company. And I guess sometimes when estate sales are over, people just don't want what they have. So the estate sale company will, will keep things. So they had just a huge garage sale tables and tables with all kinds of great things. We picked up a ton, but I saw this glass piece, and it looks, you know, it's tall and it looks like a big flower. And I did some research, it was actually missing. This is the the perfume rod. It's a perfume holder. Oh, okay, so the, I guess. What is this? Is it a stamen on a flower? I would think. So, yeah, yeah. So that glass stamen was missing, and when I did some research at nine on the bottom, I found the the person that made it, and they're out of it. Their their art studio is in Missouri. So I called them, and I told them I had this piece, but I didn't I would like to buy the the perfume rod that went in at the stamen to the flower and and they were so nice. They said, Well, we we custom make those to fit in each glass, because each bottle is, you know, hand blown glass. And so they said, just ship it back to us. And if you'll pay the the cost of shipping to and from us, we'll just make one to fit in it, and you can just have it. Oh, wow. I know they were so friendly and nice, and they, um, so they made but isn't it beautiful? It's just a hands blown glass, perfume jar, bottle.

Suzanne Wells: 48:06

Is that like an orchid, I

Unknown: 48:09

or a lily? I mean, okay, Lily,

Suzanne Wells: 48:12

right? So what she's holding is, is beautiful glass, maybe 12 inches tall, giant Lily bloom on top, and it's just beautiful. Yeah, that's me always looking at the background. So I

Unknown: 48:28

know I love it. It's, it's really pretty. I have not lifted it yet. I mean, it's worth 100 or more, but it's just so pretty. I've, I've enjoyed it, but it's fun to find the unique thing around here. We have a ton of Franco pottery, and you i different regions I know have things that they see more and more of. And you can get into the habit of buying everything you see that's Frank coma, because it's collectible. But um, can you spell that? F, R, A, N, K, O, M, a very

Suzanne Wells: 49:04

coma, okay.

Unknown: 49:08

But I think you do better when you look for unusual pieces and pieces that are different. So rather than, you know, just a coffee cup, you want to buy the coffee cups that are shaped like a boot or have a face on them, or, you know, something, something different, right?

Suzanne Wells: 49:26

Yeah, the less there is something, the more it's going to be worth. So you want to look for the odd, the unusual, the downright weird stuff.

Unknown: 49:35

Absolutely, those are the things that sell. The more unique, the better. That's um, so that's I've done. Well, I've sold Pran coma, but it's been more of the unusual pieces, um, and I've done pottery. I've learned, at first I was really afraid to to list big items, especially big fragile items, um, but I. Recently went to an estate sale, and again, on the day that everything was 75% off, I picked up a Shawnee pottery smiley pig cookie jar. Yes,

Suzanne Wells: 50:10

I think you posted that on the group, didn't you? I did,

Unknown: 50:13

and he was big, and he's in two pieces, and his head is actually had a slot in the top where it's a bank so the head is hollow on top of being big, and, you know, two pieces of pottery. And I mean, it's intimidating to ship those, but I know one of your listeners had talked about just packing each piece in individual boxes and then kind of floating those boxes in even another bigger box. And that's what I did. And he everyone I've I've shipped quite a few breakable things. Now, I would say probably half of what I ship really is breakable, and you just don't have to be afraid of it. Just make sure when you're lifting your item, you're taking into consideration that you're going to be at least doubling its size with your box, so that you right, so that you cover your shipping. Now,

Suzanne Wells: 51:05

are you full time eBay?

Unknown: 51:07

No, no, I'm an RN full time, and I do this on the side, really, okay.

Suzanne Wells: 51:12

And so are you in a hospital, doctor's office

Unknown: 51:15

and a surgical hospital? So I have a at that Monday through Thursday, 410, schedule, okay, so I have my long weekends to do all of my eBay. Yeah, this

Suzanne Wells: 51:27

business is very appealing to nurses. It is well,

Unknown: 51:31

and I did nursing as a second career. So for almost 20 years, I had been a GM of a wholesale company and run a warehouse and service. So this is fun for me to get back to the business side of of things and the warehousing and shipping.

Suzanne Wells: 51:48

But it's a break from health care, because I that gets stressful, and it's sometimes it's not fun, you know?

Unknown: 51:56

Yeah, no, it's a great break from from that job. It's a completely different and just a, it's a great break,

Suzanne Wells: 52:05

yeah, well, that's great. I'm glad to see you've kind of got everything balanced, you know, with your family life, your regular job, I call it, right, and then your side hustle with eBay and your antique booth. So

Unknown: 52:21

you're just it definitely feels the time, so I can't dwell on being an empty nester, because, yeah, that's a tough transition.

Suzanne Wells: 52:32

You're right. It is. And I'm kind of the same way with I like to be busy. I do too. Just do busy work. I like to be busy and do interesting things and be, you know, because when you sit around without much to do and all these thoughts in your head, it can be depressing and isolating and but being involved in, I don't know, sorting out dollhouse furniture, which later today, I keep putting it off, and I bought this big lot of Fisher Price loving family dollhouse furniture, and it's in like, an Ikea bag. It's a lot. Oh, that is a lot. I keep pushing it to the side, and I'm like, No, today I'm going to tackle that. So I think I'm just going to put it all together in one lot. That's, that's what. I can't decide. Do I do it by room? Do I do it by, you know, make different little sets. That's what I've seen. Is different little scenes, you know, the couch and the TV and the right coffee table and the dog and stuff like that. But anyway, yeah, doing different projects keeps your mind fun. Good thing. Yeah.

Unknown: 53:41

Now, have you tried in person auctions, like going to an auction house?

Suzanne Wells: 53:45

I I have some around me, and I've been hitting on some local eBay friends, like, let's go do this. And I can't get anybody recruited. They're Friday nights, so that's problem for some people. So I'd like, I'd love to try it. I just haven't had the opportunity. Have you done any of that? I

Unknown: 54:06

haven't, but it's on my list of I think it would be fun to go experience it and just see what kind of of things there are to buy at those because it looks like they have from furniture to smalls and everything in between. So I think it would be fun. What

Suzanne Wells: 54:23

you can get for how little,

Unknown: 54:25

right? Right?

Suzanne Wells: 54:28

Who is it? Jeremy talked about doing that, not doing goodwill anymore, and he's going to these live auctions, and he'll fill up his vehicle. So I don't know if I'm ready for that. I don't know if I control myself,

Unknown: 54:41

right? I might get in over my head real quick. I know

Suzanne Wells: 54:44

I got all this stuff. What am I gonna do with it? Well, it has been a pleasure to talk with you, and you're so energetic, and for a newbie, you know a lot. So thank you. Thank you. Have any fun? Final words for the listeners. You

Unknown: 55:02

know just I would say, just go for it. You don't have to know everything to get started. I think the the one thing I would do Getting started is make sure that you either have a software system or a plan for keeping track of your your purchases. I listened to another YouTuber, Justin resells, and he has a flip Why does his software that I use, but it integrates with eBay, and it's great. So if I make a sale, it automatically, or when I make a listing, it will automatically track it, and I just put in my shipping weights or my cost to buy. And it made taxes so easy, because I just go hit a button and run a report, and otherwise, you I would never remember what I paid for, something, you know, three months ago when it

Suzanne Wells: 55:54

right. Who does? Yeah, never. I remember every single item when I would get home from thrifting and stuff, and now I just total divided by the number of things I bought, and that's the cost, because that's much easier keeping. Yeah, yeah. It's not an income producing activity, bookkeeping. No, it's not. But if you can cut it down and make it more time efficient, then you can use that time for finding more items and listing that pile of stuff

Unknown: 56:26

absolutely and I would do it day, like when you come home from thrifting, put in what you bought. Just, just keep up with it daily. And it's so much easier. You just have to assume you're going to be successful, that you'll need to have these numbers in place and go into it with that positive mindset, well, but there's,

Suzanne Wells: 56:43

there's always some waste, I don't know, sure, buy stuff, and then you'll have you keep track of that, because if we're going to re donate the waste, that can be a tax deduction. So you want to keep absolutely what so anyway, well, what's on your agenda today?

Unknown: 57:01

Today, I think I will probably check out an estate seller too. I've got a a haircut coming up first though I'm gonna fix those gray roots.

Suzanne Wells: 57:12

Okay, yeah, well, we're not gonna talk about that, all right. So, okay, so you're gonna estate sale and then just have some you time. That's right. Okay. Well, thanks again for coming on, and we're going to look for more sales from you on the group. Suzanne, thanks

Unknown: 57:29

for having me. That was a lot of fun. Okay, have a great day. You too. Bye.

Suzanne Wells: 57:37

Next week, my guest is Lori, who has been selling on eBay for over 20 years. Thanks for spending the last hour with us. And as the late great Casey Kasem used to say, keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars. Happy selling. Everybody. Bye. You.