eBay the Right Way

eBay Seller Chat with Nina in Oregon: There’s Plenty of Room in Reselling - We All Have Different Interests 🛍️

• Suzanne A. Wells • Episode 217

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Suzanne Wells:

Suzanne, hi everybody out there in podcast land. I'm Suzanne, and this is episode number 217 of eBay the right way. Today's date is May 14, 2025 and today we are talking with Nina in Oregon. No announcements, so we will get started. Hello listeners, and welcome back. I have Nina with us on this episode. And how are you doing this morning? I'm doing good, good. So you are west coast. I'm east coast. So it's yeah afternoon here,

Unknown:

like lunch time for you. Yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

and where, where do you live? So

Unknown:

I live in Colton, Oregon, so I'm in the middle of the forest out here. Oh, really. Okay, so Colton would be kind of a small town, and it is south of Sandy, for the listeners who would know, and kind of on the Mount Hood side, yeah, south of Mount Hood, southeast.

Suzanne Wells:

Oh, Mount Hood. Okay, yeah. All right. Well, we'll, we'll get into your how your remote location affects doing this business, and how you do that. So you actually reached out to me to come on the podcast, which I love. So why don't you tell us a little bit about how your eBay journey started and what got you to here?

Unknown:

Yeah, yeah. I reached out to because I was like, How does she I started listening to your podcast, and I really liked and I'm like, I wonder how she picks listeners. And, um, you know, I really love reselling. I kind of started it by accident, almost I heard of eBay. So this was kind of the early 2000s right around maybe 2000 2001 and I went to a garage sale, and this lady had this china set, and it was just bright on her driveway, but it looked older. It looked really nice. She was getting rid of everything for a cheap price, and because she was going through a divorce, so she didn't care about any of this stuff, but I look at the set, and I'm like, Oh, she's like, Yeah, that was some old set that was given to me. I'll give it all to you for $8 so I got this Nora taki discontinued pattern set from like, the 70s. I ended up figuring out what the pattern was, and I had been selling some baby clothes on the side from my kids. I had two young two young kids, and kind of just dabbling. And so I decided to start looking it up, and it was going for a lot more than what I expected. And I decided to part all of it out, which was really nice. So I turned the $8 into by the time I was done, it was a little less than 400 for everything, but it kind of just inspired me to keep looking for things. I continued with the baby clothes bath. I started getting into, I don't even know how I got into it, but I just, I like to get into different things. So I started buying, like, wholesale DVDs and exercise equipment and flipping that okay, and then just kind of I took a break. We ended up moving, buying our first house, and this like when I was way younger, this years ago. And I kind of took a pause for a little bit, but then my dad was into eBay, and he liked going to garage sales and getting old fishing equipment. That was kind of his little thing, fishing equipment, little knick knacks, stuff like that. And so I kind of got into it just a little bit. I always had an account. We got this grand idea, he and I one time to go to a Black Friday when it Black Friday was fun, right? Yeah, you could kind of sit outside stores. And we decided that we were going to buy. There were these really amazing deals on laptops. So we loaded up with the snacks, the drinks, the camp chairs. We sat there and told jokes, and we each got because it was a limit of one per person of these three different laptops. We had six total. And then I ended up flipping them all on eBay, and we made all of our money back. My dad got a free laptop out of the deal. That was our deal for him, you know, waiting out there with me in the cold, right? How? Um, and then making pretty good money. So I kind of just kept it going throughout the years. But I work full time. Became a single mom, ended up working full time, and then a co worker, she started selling on Poshmark, and she's talking about this Poshmark app. And I'm just kind of like, what? What's that? And, you know, and then I started talking to her about eBay, and she sort of showed me what she was doing. And then I kind of just one day, I was like, you know, I really enjoy this. And I just pulled open my closet, and I just pulled out, like, 20, because she was doing clothes, and I had done baby clothes in the past, but I wasn't really into, like, close, close, reselling. But I just decided to pull out, like, 20 items that I wasn't wearing anymore. And I just decided to get everything listed and started making sales again. I went to the bins for the first time in my life and fell in love with it. And so I just became hooked. So this was back in 2020, right before the the pandemic, and then ever since then, I've been reselling clothing, mostly clothing, but I do dabble in other things consistently since then. So that's kind of

Suzanne Wells:

the journey. So what was the year you started again? Um,

Unknown:

consistently in 2020, okay. But I first got started, like back in 2000 2001

Suzanne Wells:

Okay. Okay. So how many are in your household

Unknown:

right now? It's just me and my husband, so the kids are grown. Okay, remarried a couple years ago, so it's me and my husband, and that's what I actually worked full time for local school district up until last July, and then resigned from that to start pursuing, you know, other goals and the reselling more full time, because it was a part time side hustle for me for the last several years. So

Suzanne Wells:

you're transitioning to full time, yeah, like

Unknown:

full time, but not full time hours, that kind of thing.

Suzanne Wells:

How many hours a day is full time for you? Or a week,

Unknown:

um, for you know, it, honestly, it varies because, you know, we have other things that we focus on a lot. He has a construction business, so I hope I'm with that. We do a lot with family volunteer work. So I would say I can sometimes I don't touch it one day, and then the next day, I'm putting a lot of time into it, and I kind of vary with my hours, but I definitely am in it consistently, every single week, consistently making sales, doing something, sourcing, um, reinventing. I love experimenting. That's experimenting

Suzanne Wells:

well, and I think it's hard to track how much time you work on it, because it is some things you can be doing something else at the same time, or you're back and forth with it all day. So unless you really track it, you know, and write it down it, it's hard to know, because people ask me that, well, how many hours do you work on it? And it's, I'm always working on something.

Unknown:

Yeah, yeah, thing is, I'm, I'll be sending an offer, or I'll, you know, maybe rework a title, because all of a sudden, I've listened to, like your podcast, for instance, and somebody said something, and then that kind of just sparks an idea, and I'm like, Oh, I have an item like that, and I really like the keyword that they used, so I'm going to go in and rework that title. I do stuff like that all the time, so and sometimes it works.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, well, let's talk about like, what kind of things you sell now and where you get them. Yeah, you are a little bit remote. It's not you probably don't just drop by the thrift store when you're out. You probably have to make a plan to go.

Unknown:

Yeah, I moved out here when I got married a couple years ago. My husband's from this area, so I was more in Gresham, which is pretty close to Portland, but, you know, it's a pretty big city in Oregon, and I was good wells, mom and pop, thrift shops, the bins, garage sales, mostly sometimes people give me stuff, or maybe I found it, you know, on Facebook, or even sometimes free piles, you know, I'll find things, uh huh, um. So that's kind of my main out here. We do have everything from me, all the major stuff we say it takes about 30 minutes to get anywhere is about, you know what it is, but there are some, you know, smaller thrift shops that I'll go to, like in Malala, which is south of me, or up in SDK to Sandy which are north of me. Um. And I'll still make trips to the bins, but I do a lot in Gresham and Portland area, so I'm frequently kind of in town. I call it I go in town. Now it's my new phrase. So I'm going to town, and that's when I'll stop by thrift shops and things like that. Okay,

Suzanne Wells:

well, what are some of your look for items that you that you know are, are big profit or easy to sell or move fast.

Unknown:

I love clothing. Clothing is like my number one. I have been doing, you know, I I've experimented. I do like to experiment. I kind of have, I wouldn't say, the luxury to experiment, but because it's not like my full time income right now, I kind of have the freedom to experiment a little bit. So I've experimented with wholesaling clothes, which I didn't like as much. I mean, everything kind of flipped pretty fast, but I didn't really enjoy it. So what I really, truly enjoy is I love finding more unique. I'm gearing into more unique vintage stuff. I'm trying to find the vintage things, trying to kind of see what's selling vintage. I'm been drawn to vintage a lot. And then I also kind of, like your more bread and butter type. I call them staples, you know, I love finding, you know, like even vintage Ralph Lauren, I love linen. Linen is like the number one fabric that I gravitate toward. So I do sell a lot of linen. I pick up a lot of linen. It's hard for me to let 100% linen go. And so that's like, my main I do have, like, some shoes, purses, wallets, that kind of thing. They're not my absolute favorite the clothing is. But then I started from your podcast, I started learning about other linens and crafting. And so I've actually been getting into picking up, you know, the vintage pillowcases, and I found a few that I haven't got listed yet. I just recently found some blankets, some pillowcases. So I'm kind of experimenting with that, and I enjoy that. And then I also, I love to actually sell, like we video games, and I like to say and DVDs, so I will pick those up. But the majority of my store is closed, but I do have those little items that I kind of enjoy picking up on the side, and am starting to add to my store to build it up.

Suzanne Wells:

Great. Okay, do you iron or press your linen items before photographing them.

Unknown:

Yeah, those things get steamed. However, that's my least favorite part. My least favorite part is the prep work and the measuring. So I actually pay my mother in law, or my daughter to do those for me, because they they don't mind my my daughter is she's got two kids, with a third on the way, and so right now, she's normally a CNA and working, but she has pretty tough pregnancy, so she's not on her feet as much right now because it's a pretty demanding job. So I kind of like, will have her do that on the side, and she actually really enjoys the measuring part. She'll measure everything for me, my mother in law is really patient, so she's really good at the steaming and the ironing. And I'll have her check everything over for me, and she does a really good job. So that takes it off my plate, which lets me do, yeah, I

Suzanne Wells:

tend to get a linen pile going. Yeah, pick it up and yeah, I need to get the ironing board out. And I like it really flat and crisp. And I don't know, my steamer just doesn't get it the way I want it. But yeah, it's all hair. They just wear it, however. And I don't know, I'm just a perfectionist, and I like it, yeah, look nice and flat and pressed, but yeah, it does kind of pile up sometimes, and then I'll, I'll take a day and couple hours and get caught up on all that. So, yeah, yeah, popular fabric, especially, you know, in the summer or warmer climates. This is breathable, and, you know, it's, it can be, like, dressy casual. So I find that I send a lot of that stuff to Florida.

Unknown:

Yeah, yeah. I actually like to look at where my customers are coming from, and I tend to have a lot of customers purchasing from the East Coast and the South that is like my biggest customer base, which maybe it's because, you know, I'm selling linen and things like that, more summery pieces, and the weather's better down there,

Suzanne Wells:

right? I ship something to pago. Pago yesterday. Ever heard of that?

Unknown:

I've heard of it, but I couldn't tell you where it was. American

Suzanne Wells:

Samoa, okay, is in the South Pacific, to the east of Australia, kind of near the Cook Islands. And I never heard of it. It said pago, pago, comma, A, S. And I was like, Is this like a military address or so? Of course, I had to google it and figure out where it was, but was a golf shirt with bowling pins on it. No, that's not. Somebody in the middle of the ocean needs a golf shirt with bowling pins. So made that happen and it's on the way.

Unknown:

Speaking of golf, I actually really love golf, and so that's like my favorite men's thing to pick up. I happened upon, like a master's tech Quarter Zip fleet. And, you know, I mean, I know the masters. My dad and I used to watch it and everything, but I hadn't for some reason, heard of the brand, and it was that bright, Golfy green color. And I was like, Oh, I bet you this is, like, you know, a good one. And I look it up, and, I mean, it flipped within like, 24 hours for I probably could have got more, but it just went like that. So I'm always looking for, like, my master's tech, what

Suzanne Wells:

was that? That was

Unknown:

last year.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay? Because I see a surge in, if I have any master stuff end of March, like they're going to the Masters, yeah, or they're going to a master's party and they want to wear things with that logo on it. But, yeah, I do see an uptick in, I think I sold two masters things at the end of March, because it's usually the first week in April. Yeah. And so for those out there that have any just be aware that there may be a little surge in March when people have the Masters on their mind. Yeah, yeah.

Unknown:

So you found

Suzanne Wells:

it out there, I know,

Unknown:

because I was looking it up, and I was like, okay, you know, looking where it was from, and Georgia and everything. And so I was like, wow. And I have not found another one since. I have found a polo, and that is it. And so it's a real hard find out here, but it was pretty cool find. And I like the color was a very unique green, yeah, it's like a, you know, the the when you get to the putting green, it's kind of like, that's what I would call it, putting green, green,

Suzanne Wells:

okay, right? Well, you know, back in the day, when I first started, I could get 50 bucks or more for anything with Masters on it with the National logo. And at the time, and for a long time, they only sold their logo items in the pro shop Augusta National. And so that's why you could get so much for them. But now you can buy them anywhere. You can buy them online.

Unknown:

Yeah, they're not

Suzanne Wells:

as they're still as desired, they're just more available. Yeah, they're not rare to find, because I would get especially if it was a Bobby Jones masters. I remember selling some of those for $100 and they weren't even brand new. It was just you couldn't get them anywhere. So, yeah, the times change with that kind of stuff

Unknown:

they do, and that's why I think I kind of enjoy, you know, I don't want to compete on Ebay. I can. There's a lot of, you know, just the stock, the, I don't even the fast fashion, I guess, would be the word. There's a lot of sellers. I've noticed on eBay that they're the wholesaler, or they're the manufacturer, or they're something, and they sell them so cheap, you know, you can't compete with that kind of stuff. So I thought, you know, sort of the wholesale thing would be fun for a little while, but it just, I actually enjoy finding unique stuff, and I enjoy really good fabrics and and things that you can't find everywhere. You know, vintage is kind of where I'm really strongly gravitating toward, in addition to, you know, my video games and things like that. But even that stuff is vintage that I pick up or hard to find?

Suzanne Wells:

Yeah, that's the thing with wholesale and drop shipping, is if it's easy to do, probably not going to make much money, right? Because if it's easy for you, it's going to be easy for everybody else. You know, the challenge is getting out there and being a picker and finding the things that are both highly sought after and not plentiful, yeah, and that is that is vintage right now, whether it's home decor, clothing, toys, collectibles, you know, if they don't make it anymore, they. That's going to make you some money, yeah? But, you know, you've got, I get this question all the time, and they're like, Oh, I could get, you know, 1000 of these iPhone cases or earbuds. And I'm like, I wouldn't do it, yeah, just go to go to state sales and go to garage sales and learn what to look for, because that's where you're going to find the more profitable items. I mean, there's nothing wrong with selling those wholesale kind of items. It's just the profit is is so razor thin that the time you're putting into it, you know, it's all about your time investment, and so sell items that sell for more, instead of chasing your tail, just just for the listeners, like, if it's easy to get and I'm not talking about, oh, going to an estate sale and filling up your your van with all the leftovers. I don't think that's easy, because it's a lot of work. Yeah, it is, you know, if it's going online and going to a wholesaler and ordering something and having your order done in five minutes, and then it shipped to you, and then good luck, because, yeah, the other people are doing that exact same thing, yeah.

Unknown:

And I think for some people, that excites them, and that's fine, but I just kind of found that it didn't really, you know, make me feel excited. And if I don't feel kind of excited about what I'm doing, then it's going to get pushed to the side, you know, I'm not going to want to, I don't feel the motivation to get those listings up. So I'm kind of like, just want to, you know, stick to the things, especially now that I'm working on building this more than just a side hustle i which, I mean, side hustles are fine. That's one of the things that I wanted to mention to people. I'm going to veer slightly, is that, you know, everybody's reselling business has to be what it means for them. And, you know, on YouTube, we can really and podcast get into comparing ourselves with others. And I've kind of made that mistake, like, why am I not making $3,000 a week type situation, um, but you know, behind the scenes, it's a ton of work. Even as a side hustle, it's a lot of work. And so, you know, making that much, you know, takes a lot of effort, so kudos to them. But I was always happy with it covering like my grocery bill, and now it's doing more than that. And then maybe eventually this can be what, you know, my husband and I do for retirement, you know, supplement type income, because, you know, I mean, he's in construction. That's hard physical labor, but that's not going to last, you know, his body forever. And so I, you know, I kind of can't imagine that. So it'd be nice to have something that we can do together, and he really enjoys it. So I think it's okay. I think we need more side hustle resellers, but do something that you do, what makes you excited, what makes you motivated? And it's okay if you're only making enough to make cover your coffee habit, to buy some extra things, some groceries, or you can build it bigger if it needs to be full time for your family. And so that's why I'm, like, trying to figure out what is not only profitable, because I do want to make my time count. So I do a lot of research. I really like your bolo books that you put together. I just got the most recent one. Yes, thank you. I love that, you know. And I was like, oh, I need her other ones, but I have that in the car, you know, if I'm out and about, because I'm starting to clothing is my main but I'm kind of trying to figure out if there's other things I like and sometimes I don't like it. Like, I'll research it, I'll try it, and I'm like, that's not my thing. But then I kind of try and I like it. So like, I like the linens. I also like the I found some vintage, like wallpaper still wrapped in the roll, kind of that 90s decor that people are gravitating back toward, vintage lace and ribbons. I even like you had a it was your podcast from April 23 the gal, I believe, in Kansas, Rachel. And yes, Rachel, uh huh, she does periodicals, magazines. And so I've actually started picking up magazines too. Um, some are, like, very vintage cross stitch ones, but they're in like, immaculate condition. And because I love crafts, so you know, and just kind of trying to build the things that I love, do my research, make sure you know it's you do have to have, sort of, even though you want to be excited, you also can't necessarily fall in love with an item and just sort of waste your money and let something sit there. You. And never let it go. So it's kind of a balance between that. So I do a lot of research, but I want to pick up things that I love and I love to sell, and that I'm proud of selling and happy to send to somebody else. Mm, hmm,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, you're exactly right on the you have to love working with it, because it just doesn't feel like work. I decided I'm not really a fan of the dollhouse furniture. I bought a whole bunch of that the Fisher Price loving family, and I thought this is small. It's not going to take up much room, but it was just kind of tedious, taking the pictures and everything. And so I probably won't do that again. But then I bought this artist sketchbook, and he's, you know, it's a student, and he's learning to draw, but some of his stuff is just fantastic. It is very talented. And he died, like 20 years ago, and I guess his family's just now going through his estate, but I bought his whole one whole sketchbook, and I'm taking the sketches out and selling them individually, and it's just very interesting to me, and I feel like someone who appreciates art will love these and frame them and or, who knows, put them in art studio or a coffee shop, or I just feel like they could be used somewhere. Yeah, I haven't sold any yet. I'm still getting listed. But, you know, sometimes things take a while, but I just was very interested in doing the research on those and just some more advertisements practice, advertisements like calvinator, refrigerator and Fox, they call it. So that was just really fun to go through all of that and, and, and when I was working on that one Sunday afternoon, like, I completely lost track of time. I was like, How is it five o'clock? I thought it was. I thought I just say lunch. Like, how is it five o'clock? So, yeah, and so you have to try different things to see if you're going to like it, because I want to dream that up out of the blue, I'm going to sell artist sketches. It's just was in a estate sale, and I was like, Hmm, that looks cool, yeah,

Unknown:

yeah. I think you mentioned that the other, you know, a couple podcasts ago or so. And it actually made me think of my grandfather. He was an artist, you know, like, not sometimes he made, you know, money from his art, you know, as a graphic artist locally. But he has a ton of comic strips. He's kept trying to submit to the Oregonian hearing ear, so, if you're listening, Oregonian, but they rejected it. And I think probably because, you know, my grandpa's sense of humor was, you know, just not what was popular at the time, um, but I have his original comic strips, and, you know, he had a ton of them, and I have a bunch of original made for magazine, little comics, you kind of almost like the far side type, you know, little humor. Some of it was political. Some of it was funny, just topic of time for him. He was a World War Two vet. So there's even some humor, you know, not that that was a funny time period, but my family's very comical, so they kind of find humor in tough things, you know, just interesting stuff. And so I have all of his art, and I wasn't thinking about, you know, I probably wouldn't put it on eBay. Not that that's not a good idea with this artist, because he maybe he would be proud to be published, you know, in that way. So I think that's a really cool idea. But it actually got me to think about, you know, I wonder if, you know, I could do something with grandpa's art right now, it's sitting in this cute little briefcase that I have, and just kind of inspired me. I was like, oh, yeah, good idea, Suzanne.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, if you're willing to part with it, yeah, no. Gonna keep

Unknown:

the originals. That's the thing. Is, I was like, What can I do with his art to kind of make him, you know, he always wanted something published. So I was kind of trying to figure out, you know, maybe I could do something with that. So was he like an illustrator? Yeah, it was more well, he he did a lot. He did a lot of different types of art. He could do very realistic oil paintings and beautiful sketches. He would always send me personalized cards that he drew. But his top was illustrations, you know. So, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

I have a lot of respect for people with that talent who can just pick up a pencil or a pen and just draw something, oh yeah, and and painting as well. Just, I don't have the patience for it. I'm not talented that way. My mother was a great artist. She could do everything, she played the piano, she painted, she could draw. And my my brother's talented like that too, but I just like it just doesn't come out of my head like that. I can't, I can't make that my drawing look like that thing over there,

Unknown:

right? I love art, I love crafts, but I'm definitely not gifted, like my grandfather and then my husband. You see the three guitars behind me? That's like three of, I don't know, 2025, some odd guitars, in addition to other instruments. He's so musically gifted, there's a local store called Guitar Center, and we went in there one day, and he picked up, I kid you not, every instrument. He went into the drum room, started playing the drums, the piano, or keyboards, the ukulele, the guitars. And we just kept walking in, room after room after room, and he could just play every single instrument, just like, who are you? You know, but, um, it's definitely a talent I don't possess. I do a little bit on the piano, but I love that. He the he loves getting into the reselling with me, which is when we met, you know, I kind of told him, yeah, I do this thing, you know, on the side, I do reselling. And he's like, you know, wanted to know all about it. And then he just, like, got right into it with me. He started like, you know, looking for things, and, you know, finding things. And I always told him, No, don't bring anything, unless telling me first, you know, I don't want everything free, or everything this or that. So for a while, was kind of cute, because he we would go to the bins and he would just bring up a bunch of stuff, and I'd be like, no, no, no, and I felt bad telling him no.

Suzanne Wells:

But what does He look for when you're out? Well,

Unknown:

he's actually found some really good things. He's found some of my I wouldn't say they were, like, huge sales, but really good flips. And it's because so I would I encourage him to do now is he'll still listen to me, like, if I'm watching a YouTube video or listening to a podcast, he listens with me. So he's actually, you know, excited knowing that we're on to he's like, Oh, you're going to do great. Have fun. But he he has a different knowledge set and skill set than I do, and so I told him, You know, when we're out, why don't you just start not that he can't look for the things that I'm currently looking for. But he's noticed some really great flips, like one time we were at one of our new favorite thrift stores, and he I walk right by it, and he goes, Oh, that manual right there. That's definitely worth something. And I'm like, what is it? And it happened to be a video game manual for some video game I'd never heard of in my life. It was like one and a half inches thick, this huge, almost like textbook manual, with everything you ever wanted to know about this game. And so the store was having a 10 for $1 sale on books. So I got this book for 10 cents, and I sold it in like two days. I think it went for like $55 you know, and one of a good flip. And in the same trip, he found this, you know, really good set of unopened blu ray. And that flipped almost instantly. He found, I think one of my favorites was he does know that I like to look for vintage Polo Ralph Lauren, or Ralph Lauren. And he found a men's I posted this, I think in one of your money making Mondays. I'm really bad about participating and commenting, but I read a lot, but I did participate in this one once because I was proud of it. It was a vintage polo, Ralph Lauren, 100% silk, black button down for men, and it sold in 30 seconds, or, like, not 30 seconds, 30 minutes, I'm sitting there. I posted it, then I'm continuing list. I looked down at my phone, and I have my notification, and there it was. It sold right away. So I was like, Oh, I probably undersold that. But, you know, at the same time, I was so proud of that quick flip. So he's found a lot of things that flip fast and for you know, to me a decent profit.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, don't I hate when sellers say this, like price are too low. You'll never know. Yeah, you don't know. Um, maybe somebody had an alert set up, and they were notified as soon as you hosted it, and they paid full price, and you made the sale, and you got what you wanted, and you did the research to price it right. So I'm on this crusade to help sellers take the pressure off themselves when this happens, because you. I sold things like that. And, you know, the community, when I post my sale, the community is like, Oh, you could have gotten more. And that's okay. Everybody runs their business differently, and maybe I don't want to wait three years to get $50 more. You know, I'm happy with I become more of a turn and burn and put the money back in the business and buy more stuff and keep it, keep it going, because we're never going to run out of stuff. And, yeah, that's true. I'm not one of those people that wants 1000s of items in my home. I just that's uncomfortable for me. It's, it's, it makes me anxious. I don't like it. So yeah, rather, just, anyway, I I just think it's a mentality of, oh, you could have got more for that. And what's funny is the people saying that are the ones that never post their sales. Yeah, they're not sharing what they're selling, or are they even selling at all? So, you know, I just don't think I still worry about it anymore. You know, if I pay 50 for something and sell it for 150 I'm happy with that.

Unknown:

Yep. And I do feel that way, too. But sometimes I think, you know, when you I still fall to that trap of, like, the comparison to others, like, oh, somebody out there, I'll probably think I undersold it, but like you said, it doesn't really matter. And we actually live in a tiny home, so we I simplified like drastically, and we do have a separate storage unit on our property, but it's still limited in size. And I'm also an anti clutter person, so I don't want to be in the business of collecting, so to speak. Even though I love the stuff I pick up, I want to sell it. And so I'm not afraid of running, like I run a lot of sales, just to get stuff moving, sometimes, just to get the store, like, a little bit of, you know, energy, so to speak, or they people talk about the eBay algorithm a lot, and, you know, I don't even know what is true and what isn't, but I do know there's no

Suzanne Wells:

way for us to know. There's no way. So all we can know is really what eBay tells us, and are they telling us everything right? Are 100% I don't think so. I don't think they want us to know. You know, that's their business. It's Company, but you know them, they're coming from a trusted source who is referencing where they got that information. Because there's a lot of talk on social media about the algorithm, and it's like, okay, well, I always say, Well, where did you read that? Where did you hear that? Oh, they said that at, you know, the eBay open. So it's not in writing. It was just something that was said, Okay, well, who said it? Are they reputable? And so just understand that. You know, my philosophy is pay attention to what's working for you and do more of that. Yeah, because, you know that's working at least for you, and

Unknown:

that's what I've been trying to be better at. You know, even though experimenting can be fun, I'm trying to sort of hone in on what do I really love to do? What really works? What am I excited about? What's selling well, that I enjoy selling, you know, because there's a lot of stuff that sells well, but I don't really want to pick that up, and that's why I think there's a lot of room in the reselling business as well. Like, I have a friend who she likes to resell too on the side, and she said to me the other day we were both, we were talking about thrifting, and she says, I love that you share, you know, everything you do. Because I was like, Oh, you've got to go to this new thrift place with me. She's like, I love that you're not like, competitive or or keeping things to yourself and not sharing. And I was like, well, you and I have different interests, and even if we have the exact same interest, I'm only one person, and I can only list so much, and I can only sell so much, you know. So to me, I'm just not competitive that way. I'm competitive against myself, you know, I want to do better than I did last month, and so I do track my numbers. I do get a little nerdy, I guess you would call it, not that I think it's nerdy, but I nerdy is a compliment for me. But I get a little nerdy, and I get into my numbers, and I have a spreadsheet that I made, and I do like to, you know, try and, I mean, obviously you should, for business and tax purposes, but I actually enjoy the tracking part and just seeing, like, you know, what is my average sales price? Did I bump it up? Did I sell more? Did I make more profit? You know, how am I doing, kind of, not only keeping an eye on my spending habits, because it can be thrifting is the easy part, but also, you know, I love to set goals. I. Very goal oriented. And so one of the things that I started thinking about is, instead of how many a day I would list goal or how many a week it's let's have more of a goal of how much, you know, maybe I profit weekly, let's start achieving more like tangible goals that kind of count versus I could list 100 items and sell nothing and still have achieved a goal. But, you know, if I'm not selling things, you know, it's I'm just in the business of listing. So I kind of, you know, that's my new mindset. Is I'm gravitating toward competing against myself, trying to improve, and also my goals being more, I guess meaningful would be the right word. I'm not sure what word I'm looking for, but, you know, meaningful to me and my business, right?

Suzanne Wells:

And attainable? Yeah, some people list $1 amount every day, like $100 a day. And so it could be one thing, be five things, but that's what they're looking at, is filling their store up with $1 amount. Yeah, so, and, you know, I've, I've done some bulk buys recently, and stop listing the items because they're not selling very fast. So time is better spent listing this over here that is selling. And, you know, I'll get to it. I'll get around to it. Like, those, those coffee bags I bought from a guy in the coffee business. I've sold about five of those. And, like, they didn't sell for a month, and then all of a sudden they're starting to sell now. And I'm like, Well, why is this? What is going on? Because they're going all different places. I'm like, Are these for wall decor? Is this for plants? Because, like, now we're in the plant season, and maybe the people use them for that. Is it for the family reunion sac race? Yeah, that's happening over the summer the family reunions. Like, what is it that triggered these things to sell? So as soon as the people receive them and leave feedback, I'll be like, Hey, I'm curious, what are you doing this for? And that'll shed some light on it, because, you know, some things can be seasonal. Things tell all year, but sometimes it's a seasonal thing. So I always ask that question so I can be a better seller and provide products that people want when they want them. Yeah,

Unknown:

I wonder also, you know, wedding seasons coming up too, and there's a lot of rustic vintage wedding themes. Yeah, I know for our wedding, I was on the hunt for really old galvanized giant milk, you know, container, because I wanted them for some of the bouquets, because I had a very rustic theme. And of course, when I look for something, it's not available. But I happen to have a friend who had parents who had, like, several, you know, at their house, and so they let me borrow, which was nice, but that would have been something, you know, I would have eventually searched for, probably on eBay, probably be hard to ship for somebody, but, you know, pretty big item. But, yeah, that was my particular hunt for, you know, and I got married in the summer, and I know, like June, yeah, that's

Suzanne Wells:

a great point. And these that have been selling have the little cartoon column Valdez. So I don't know that is very wedding ish, but that that's the one that's selling is with this little cartoon coffee man on the front of it. So I don't know that's why I bought them was because that that one design caught my eye, but it was a bulk buy. I took all of them, but yeah, eventually everything will sell. But yeah, so Okay, well, you have any sales you want to talk about?

Unknown:

Yeah? I mean, obviously the you know, that Nora talk. He said, like, I'll never forget just that set, you know. And I'm, it's funny, because I'm so happy that every piece survives shipping. I did pick up a little bit of China recently, kind of thinking about that, and then I decided, you know, I don't really want to ship breakables. I I don't even know how that old set survived. I don't even think I packed it the way I would pack something today, but that that's something that's just not that I'm looking forward to. So I did buy some recently, though, but they haven't quite sold. So I was like, yeah, that's not my thing. But the laptops that was fun, my vintage the Ralph Lauren I've sold that. And then there was also the one thing, the goodwill I've heard about everywhere, the prices are just skyrocketing, and that's true here too. The bins are really good, but the regular Goodwills, those can be hard. So that's why I kind of started to learn other. Things, um, instead of the popular brands, I'm learning things that, you know, Goodwill is not, it's not really on their radar. And one of these things, and I've noticed, you know, and I don't even mean this in like, a mean way, but sometimes I've noticed, you know, that things that just aren't super pretty or that I would wear sell really well. And I was at a local Goodwill, and this one, like, I don't know if it was a it ended up being a dress, but I was like, what is that that just looks so odd, different. So I pick it up off the rack, and it's this brand. Ended up being in Jerry is the brand, and it is hand woven. I did a bunch of research on it, hand woven 100% wool items from India. And they sell like retail, $800 $1,000 a garment. Yeah, I've seen those handmade. And so it was 699 at the Goodwill, and I flipped that very quickly, within a few days for, think, $290 that was just like, I was like, wow. And I also picked up a linen. It was from Japan, and I do not remember the name. I wish I did. It started with the y, but it was 100% linen, and it was just this, almost like a flower sack, like giant flower sack, looking garment with some interesting color block, handmade, most likely that kind of thing. And that flipped really well, but it wasn't on the goodwill radar. So I like to look for those little, one off items that are unique. And then I at the bins, I found a men's Burberry coat, and I kind of was like, why are people passing this up? Is this a fake so I actually sat on that core. Is

Suzanne Wells:

something wrong with it that I'm not seeing? Yeah, I do.

Unknown:

And I'm like, no wonder this is taking it Yeah, and I'm doing my research. And I it was really hard to do the research, but I wanted to make sure it was 100% authentic. And I sat on that thing, I think, for six months, and I continued to research, research, research. And then I found out it was from the men's winter 2008 line it, but it was an immaculate condition. It was a car coat. And I never really heard of the term car coat before. I don't know why, but I was like, Okay. And so I finally, you know, validated that it was authentic. I listed it, and it sold very quickly, um, it was really hard to value it, just because Burberry can be all over the place. So I did what I thought I would be happy with. I would have even taken less, but I ended up selling it. I believe that one was 350 you know, and I got it at the bins, and I sold it to some gentleman in Brooklyn, New York, with, like, a very Italian sounding name. So I just, you know, picture in this, you know, big, tall Italian guy wearing this really nice Burberry car coat, you know, just, so I just kind of, sometimes picture like, what are people using this for? Or how are, you know, they wearing it? And sometimes I pick up pieces that I just love, and I can't wear it, or it's not, you know, my size or anything. But I'm always trying to, like picture how they would wear it, and sort of, I like to sometimes market it that way, so to speak. Um, I found some really beautiful dresses that it's like somebody has to go out on the town in this dress. It's just beautiful, you know, 100% silk. It reminds me of, you know, maybe a famous Hollywood actress or something. And so sometimes I'll kind of say that in my listings, you know, just kind of the vision of the garment, hoping that somebody will pick it up and and wear it. But yeah, those are kind of the things that I get excited about. The Masters tech, the Wii games. I just picked up one for free this weekend, and it ended up being like, a really, like, very popular selling game that so, I mean, for a pretty decent price. So I'm excited about that one, and I already have a lot of interest on it. So it's like, oh, that's cool. I love just finding those little things and then just turning around and flipping them and and golf DVDs. I actually found recently, there's a little bookstore that I like to go to, and they sell their DVDs pretty inexpensive. And I found a set of six wrapped on, you know, 100% new golf instruction DVDs. It was all about, I sold some of those for like, $40 Yeah. And so I got this set of six, and turn around and flip those of course, like you said, it's golf, you know, season masters. That's sort of on a lot of people's brains. And so I was like, Oh, that's fun, you know, sending that to somebody who wants to improve their golf techniques.

Suzanne Wells:

So, yeah, so you're gonna follow,

Unknown:

I am a little bit

Suzanne Wells:

that's what it takes, yeah, so we have made it to the end. Do you have any last words for the listeners?

Unknown:

Yeah, I think because you mentioned, you know, just one of my best tips. And, you know, I think one of my best tips is just to have fun, like have fun with your business. Yes, you want to make money, you want to do research, have systems, things like that, that make it a profitable business. But if you're not enjoying it. It's kind of like it's almost, you know, what's the point? I think you need to find what works for you, enjoy what you're doing. Don't compare yourself with others. Learn from others. That's a big key. But Don't, don't compare yourself necessarily, with others. And I think that kind of makes it, you know, just an enjoyable whether you're doing it part time, side hustle or full time, especially if you're doing it full time, you really want to enjoy what you're doing. Challenge

Suzanne Wells:

you to post more of your sales on the group. Yes, I actually have that on my calendar for every Monday, so I don't forget to do it, but you can post anything. It's just It starts on Mondays, um, so we can see more about what you're saying. Thank you for reaching out and coming on the podcast. I do appreciate it, and it was great

Unknown:

to meet you. Yeah? Well, thanks for having me. Yeah, it was really fun. Okay,

Suzanne Wells:

great. Well, have good day. You too. Take care. Bye. My guest next week is a great lady and long time eBay friend Kathy in Wisconsin. She was actually one of my coaching clients back in 2010 so we have been friends for 15 years, and her life has taken many twists and turns, with eBay running in the background much of the time, so she has a lot of wisdom to share. Thank you for supporting this podcast, and I will talk to you next week. Happy Selling everybody. Bye. You.