eBay the Right Way

eBay Seller Chat with Roselle in PA: Seller of Oddities - “If it's Fun, You are Doing it RIGHT!” 🥰

• Suzanne A. Wells • Episode 219

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Suzanne Wells:

You. Hey, there eBay friends. This is episode number 219 of eBay the right way. Today's date is May 28 2025 My guest today is Roselle announcements, and now what you have all been waiting for? Yeah, that was a little dramatic. Anyway, you guys have been asking for this for four years. So I am making it happen. The big project I have been working on is converting my bolo books in print to digital downloads. And let me tell you why. It's kind of a perfect storm of circumstances. First of all, the cost of printing and shipping like everything else, just keeps increasing. I have the books printed and then add them to my eBay store. They are not printed on demand. When you order them, it is an upfront cost, which was fine. I designed it that way, but our world has changed since I started offering the bolo books in 2021 and we have to adapt and keep going. I always want to create high quality products, but printing costs are becoming unsustainable, and I don't want to raise my prices, not to mention eBay fees on top of that. So we are going digital. Don't get me wrong, I love creating the bolo books, and I'm very proud of the printed versions, but it's time to go in a different direction, a different way, a better way. Now, I created and sold ebooks for many years, both on eBay when it was allowed, as well as on my own website. Some of you who have been following me for many years will remember the golf shirt Bible, discontinued product, hot lists, cash hiding in your home, among others. There were a bunch of them. There are many advantages to digital content. It is much less expensive and less time consuming to produce, which makes the cost of an e book lower than the cost of a printed version. E books are delivered instantly, so there's no shipping costs, no waiting. Order them and start learning immediately, and they are never out of stock. Once you purchase an ebook, it is yours to access on any device you want. You can keep them on your phone and refer to them anytime you want. If you prefer a printed copy, you can make that happen with your home printer or go to an office supply store and have them print it for you. Totally up to you. Digital Content is possible to update at any time. Once a physical book is in print, that's it, and this is part of the big project I've been working on, not only converting the format, but making sure the information is up to date, deleting or revising inaccurate information. All four of my eBooks will have revision dates of May or June, 2025, and the revision date is clearly shown on the product page before you purchase it, so you know how current the information is. I am committed to updating them on a regular basis, so you are always getting current information. You will still get the same high quality information in an e book as in the printed versions. So going forward, all future editions will be in digital format, meaning ebooks. So there are a few printed books left in my eBay store if you prefer a printed spiral bound copy. Now is the time. To get that once the printed versions are gone, that's it. As of today, May 28 2025 I have the first two editions available in the premium library. I'm working on editions three and four as we speak. You do not have to be a member of the premium library to purchase these. It's just the platform where I can provide these digital downloads. There is a link below to that specific page where you could grab your ebooks. So if you have been meaning to go back and get previous editions, you can do that now in ebook format, due to eBay policies, I cannot answer questions through eBay messaging about where to purchase the ebooks or anything else that would be considered a solicitation of off site sales. So if you have questions about this, please contact me directly through email at Suzanne, at Suzanne a wells.com or on my Facebook group or business page or on YouTube, some of you have asked about a fifth edition of the bolo book. It has been a heck of a year for me with all kinds of unusual life changing things happening and dominating my time. But there will be future books coming because I love creating them, and most of all, I love that the information helps other sellers make more money, so check the link below for the digital download page in the premium library, and I will definitely let you know when the next versions are added. If you have any trouble at all, please contact me directly and we will work through it. I'm a real person. I'm easy to get a hold of, and I respond quickly. Okay, there you have it. Now on to the conversation with Roselle. Hello, listeners. I have the lovely Roselle with us today. And where are you located?

Unknown:

I am smack dab in the middle of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, so it's about an hour and a half from Philly, and probably about half an hour straight south would be Maryland, the Maryland border. So you're a Pennsylvanian. I am a Pennsylvanian all my life. Yes, okay, well,

Suzanne Wells:

because, you know, different states call themselves different things, like Michigan, they're the Michiganders. Yes. And I never would have come up with that. I think

Unknown:

I was 20 years old before I realized that not every state refers to themselves with their USPS initials like we say we're in PA, uh huh, I don't think other all the other states do that. Maybe they do, but, oh yeah, that's a thing. Say that,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, okay, I guess it's whatever shorter. So PA is shorter than saying the whole word of Penn State. It sure is like, I'm in South Carolina, so we just say South Carolina or the Upstate, because, oh yes, there's the coastal region, and then there's the Upstate, and then there's, like, the Piedmont. I had to learn all that when I moved here. Like, what are you talking

Unknown:

they all have their own personalities in those areas. Yes, yeah, I didn't

Suzanne Wells:

realize how much manufacturing there is in South Carolina factories, and, well, we have the BMW plant, but, oh, I didn't know that, like Bausch and Lomb, and there's just so many RYOBI. There's so many companies here for manufacturing. And that was interesting to learn, because I came from Georgia and, you know, we got all kinds of stuff down there. But anyway, so Are you near the Amish area?

Unknown:

I am smack dab in the middle of all of that. If the wind is blowing the right way, some of your listeners, especially the train aficionados, might know of the Strasburg railroad. Okay, that is one of the last steam engine tourist slash commercial rail lines in the area, so you can bring your family and ride the train, and Thomas the Tank Engine visits a couple of times a year, and so that is close enough for me to hear the train whistle when the wind is blowing the right way, and I am sitting here looking out my window. We're surrounded by farmland. I grew up a dairy farmer's daughter, so yes, and I am a member of a Mennonite Church, so we are not playing dress. But yes, my my ancestors were on my mom's side Amish and on my dad's side Mennonite. And yeah, we're very. Be very much entrenched in the area historically. Okay,

Suzanne Wells:

well, that's fun. So as a Mennonite, do you have outstanding cooking skills?

Unknown:

It depends who you ask, but I'm pretty proud of them. I do the whole sourdough thing my mom good we, you know, being farmers, we were not wealthy, and so we my mother made my clothes up until a certain age, and my dad, we drank lots of milk and had lots of quiche. And yeah, so we ate what we what we made, very much, yeah, so gardening and and even the the readiness and availability for thrifting of handmade things is huge in this area, so we're really enjoying that.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, in my limited travels, I have passed by several Mennonite stores, yes, just little stores, and I always associate them with the delicious baked goods and honey and jams and jellies and all the things in those little stores. So not to stereotype you, but I just love food, and that's what pops into my head.

Unknown:

No, you're absolutely right. And we were doing the whole homesteading thing before it was cool.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, okay, do you have chickens? We don't hear

Unknown:

my mother did until the fox got them. That's a whole saga for another time. Okay, but yes, you know the fox needs to eat too, I guess, right.

Suzanne Wells:

I guess so. Yeah, this is the time where people are thankful they have chickens with the eggs at crazy prices. It's true. I'm sure you have a network there of people you get them from, or Yes, yes, yes.

Unknown:

And we're, you know, we're at the grocery stores also. But you're right. We didn't have to lose our minds when the food when the food prices get high. We have a lot of options in this area. We really do buy the the

Suzanne Wells:

pasture raised ones. I forget the brand, but it's like, it's got, like, the cute artwork on the container. And those, those were around five or $6 now they're $14 and I had to go back to these sad, you know,

Unknown:

story, the pale, the pale, yo, pale ones.

Suzanne Wells:

Yeah, it's like, well, I guess it's better than not eating eggs at all. But yes, um,

Unknown:

well, I'll tell you what it's it's not, you know, it's not an easy thing to feed the world and to have enough eggs. And you talk about a pipeline of podcasts in there, but you need a pipeline of healthy animals. So it is a job to keep the world in eggs. And frankly, it's a dirty job at times. And so I'm just really thankful for all the farmers who are willing to do that for their calling in life. Really am.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, we were talking before we started recording, and I took a little vacation last week up to a lake near here. And the Airbnb, they had chickens. This was like a guest house on somebody's property, and there was all these notes around, feel free to give your kitchen scraps, yeah, and, but they don't like citrus or onions.

Unknown:

Those picky chickens.

Suzanne Wells:

Wow, you got a attitude going on there? You chickens?

Unknown:

Oh, my goodness, I've heard of henpecked, but that's ridiculous.

Suzanne Wells:

That really good one. Yeah, yeah.

Unknown:

Um, my mom's chickens loved watermelon rind. Oh, yes, yes, they would go to town on that. Yeah.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, well, alright. Well, let's move back to the topic of Ebay. I told you we'd be all over the place with this unscripted or gift conversation. Um, okay, well, what got you into eBay? And when was that?

Unknown:

Um, it was in 2020. I started looking at eBay differently. So I had been on eBay as a young mom looking to save money, and I had this darling little girl born in 2003 and I would go to garage sales in the area and find these cute Gymboree outfits, but maybe not the hair doodads to go along with them. And so I found that I could go on eBay and complete her look for not so much money. And so that's what really got me on eBay to begin with. As a buyer, I was buying things for my daughter Ella, because I wanted her to look cute, but I couldn't pay the new store prices. So that's what got me started. And then during COVID, of course, like a lot of the rest of the world, I started watching YouTube videos of thrifters. You. Finding things and reselling them. And I was thinking, Man, I found myself at a place where I am a teacher by trade. I taught history in the public school when I before I had kids, and then when they were young, I did substituting teaching. And then I had a son with special needs, and I realized that that was probably going to be my classroom, taking care of him. So I am, like, like lots of your other listeners, I am a full time caregiver when he is not in school. So Summertime is pretty hands on for me here at home, but he is in school full time during the year, but he's he's non verbal and in a wheelchair, and so he needs all the things, and he's a happy guy, but I needed an outlet, and I needed to feel creative, and I would have been a terrible employee nine to five somewhere, because his health is he's medically fragile, so his health can change pretty quickly. So I thought maybe I'll try this. And then it was 2020, and of course, eBay was really a great place to sell things, and my husband got wind that I could do it. And then he started really encouraging me to do it, and gave me a space in the house to store. He left his office area and let me have it, which was really nice for him to do that. So his office in the home became my space, and I found success quickly, and then I've done a little more, and a little more every year I did get sick. I got sick in 2021 I had cancer. And so I'm a cancer survivor. I had a rare cancer called cholangiocarcinoma, and it's a bile duct cancer. And so I had chemo and surgery and radiation. So from 2021 to 2022 my I was a lot of stop and go, but 2023 I started back up again. And so I've just really been enjoying the flexibility that I have with eBay and and I haven't really looked to do anything else since I'm certainly not making a full time living at it. I have, I keep my listings right around 250 I don't own a store, so I, you know, I'm small time. Suzanne, I don't know if I can help your people out or not, but I love your community.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, you know, a lot of my guests say that. I don't know if I sell enough, but more sellers are like you Yeah, like the ones that have 1000s of items, and you know these gigantic stores, because you're balancing so many things in your life, and I commend you for being there For your son. That's not easy. It's predictable, and you're working this in around that, and then you had your own health issues, and just kept going. And there's, there's just more people like you. Mm, hmm, the other and trust me, even those big sellers that have 1000s of items have things happen, and they have to put their store on, you know, vacation, increase their handling time when, because we're human, things are going to happen. And it's just how you respond when things happen to you. And you just, you just keep going. But I like that. Caregivers like you do this because it gives you something that's yours. Yeah, that is interesting. That is a break from the seriousness of your life. And, oh, I got a sale, and I'm going to ship this. And, you know, something kind of to perk you up, because I'm sure you have hard days, and you can't control a lot of what's going on in your life, just like everybody else. So don't, don't feel like you don't have anything to contribute. Because even for people that have sold one thing, you have eBay experience, and maybe it could help

Unknown:

somebody else. Yeah, and I just really, I do have a lot of gratitude for the for the kind of animal that eBay is. I know that nobody likes fees and all of these things, but I'm in Lancaster, and I really can't go traveling to shows. And, you know, do I don't want to be big time like a dealer. We don't live far from Adams town and and all of that's a really if you ever come up this way, you gotta stop at Adams town. There the antiques and thrifting in Adams town is just about half an hour from me, towards the county, to the north of us, and I. Uh, you know, you know, my husband says, Do you want to? Do you want a booth? And I think, no, I can't handle all of that. But in eBay, I give them some fees. And like, this morning, I shipped a brass book, uh, easel, a book stand, to Alaska. Now, when else would I have seen a lady in Alaska to ship a brass book. Never, right, you know,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, so we're not going to find your booth. No, she isn't. Yeah, I love shipping things there. I shipped a swimsuit there a couple weeks. I always look at where things are going because I just, I hope

Unknown:

fascinating, or a hot tub maybe, you know. And

Suzanne Wells:

I thought, well, everybody needs a swimsuit at some point. That's right, all of the indoor fitness stuff, sure, indoor pools up there. And you know, it does get warm enough in the summer to it does come a little bit, but it's just that's not what I would expect to go to Alaska, like gloves or a coat, you know, no a swimsuit. But then again, maybe they don't have many up there locally to buy well, and

Unknown:

if we can, and if we can make a little bit of money on it and give it to them at a price that benefits them too, you know, after the shipping is all done and they're willing to do that, then everybody is benefiting. Yeah, that's, that's fantastic. I

Suzanne Wells:

think that's what keeps me doing. EBay is like, wow, this went to such and such. That's kind of fascinating. It is. And I find this thing wherever, estate sale, goodwill, and pay a few bucks for it, and then it goes across the world sometimes.

Unknown:

So I have a story about that. Can I tell it to you absolutely early on? Now, I don't know how much you can believe from the messaging you get from Ebay. I don't know that anybody's ever fibbed to me, but I had a like a suite of Indiana glass, 1970s iridescent carnival glass, like a canister. It was like this purpley iridescent thing from Indiana, glass canister and a compote. And there was a third piece. They all matched, and I had a seller that wanted them, and they went to Thailand, which I thought was weird, yeah, and then he messaged me and said, Thank you so much. We're starting a glass Museum. Okay? I thought, okay, probably you don't have a lot of iridescent us made it was us made glass so, sure. But I thought really, in Thailand, my carnival glass is sitting perhaps in somebody's Museum, right? That's the last thing I ever would have expected,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, well, and I wonder about that too. I have been getting into different types of items, the ephemera, and what kinds of things are going to museums, and I've started to think about that when I buy for resale, like, is this something somebody would put in a museum? Yeah, if it's local, you know, maybe a local high school that doesn't exist anymore, something as simple as that, and it could go in their little, small town Historical Museum. Here's the high school that doesn't exist anymore, and they've got your books and Letterman letters and whatever is um, so instead of saying, Why would somebody want that? I think who might want that exactly? Maybe I'm wrong, and sometimes I ask, but only after they leave positive feedback, exactly.

Unknown:

Yeah, I wasn't looking for an explanation, but he just gave that one. And I said, Well, I don't know if it's true or not, but that's fascinating. And he it was a successful transaction and had good feedback. So

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, and I think we're a very important cog in that wheel of museums getting what they need and or, as well as the props for movies and TV shows and all of that. It may not be some individual person that just wants that thing, it it may have a bigger purpose. So you gotta think big. Think it's fun.

Unknown:

Think global. Yes.

Suzanne Wells:

Now I have to ask you, I'm looking at your background, is that a toll painted item above that door behind you? I can't believe you can see it. Yes, it is. It looks like a tall painted tray. Yes, so

Unknown:

that's a tall painted tray, and that's a pretty standard one. We have tons of us stuff around here. But what I love even better is the piece that's hanging next to it, because it's a scrapple pan Suzanne. Do you know scrapple? Oh,

Suzanne Wells:

scrapple that goes along with head cheese, right?

Unknown:

It's all the it goes with using all the parts. That's all the leftover marks who I am as a person, using all the parts. I have a little note about that. Yeah, all the things, finding use for all the things, and it's a it is a toll painted scrapple pan done by a local artist, and I bought it to resell, and I'm not done looking at it yet. Well,

Suzanne Wells:

I think it's great, but for the listeners, what we're talking about is T, O, L, E, toll painting that is sort of a folk art craft art, whatever that you see painted on wood or tin or metal, items like lamp shades and trays and Trinket boxes and sometimes furniture has a very distinct Look.

Unknown:

Yes, and I and my mother would tell you, and so I'll say it for her is that, you know, she grew up in a household with plain dress, and the women didn't, you know, adorn themselves. Traditionally, I have no heirloom jewelry coming to me, you know, okay, because, oh, because they didn't have that. That wasn't where they kept or collected beauty, but they collected beauty in their everyday household objects whenever possible. So the her family came. There was several creatives, and so her family would, would there were painters. My great aunt made her living. She was a single woman all her life, and she made her living in her home doing paintings on pieces of slate and on beautiful little keepsake boxes and tin and enamel teapots and barrel staves and saw blades and scraple tins, you know, anything she could get her hands on that you could add beauty to your home in a way that was approved by the community, and it made you smile.

Suzanne Wells:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, down here in the south, we have pickled pigs ski. Do you have that?

Unknown:

Well, I don't think I've ever had one, no, and have you tried these?

Suzanne Wells:

I have not. I'm a little afraid of that. Also have chitlins, which is like pig intestines, I think

Unknown:

so. I think probably those kind of things would get thrown into the scrapple. But what makes this probably, yeah, really good is, like, the the fat, you know, that it gets cooked down, but it's fantastic. My papa, man, he would eat a scrapple, a slice of scrapple, you know, fried on a cast iron skillet. And then I'm going to get corrected on this by my mom, but I think he would put King syrup. Is that something, you know, it's like molasses, but more of a table.

Suzanne Wells:

I don't know of that we have sorghum down here. Oh, no,

Unknown:

no, um, it's kind of like

Suzanne Wells:

molasses, okay, Holland at the end and give the exact definition. But dad was all about the sorghum. Okay? He just thought it was wonderful, and it was, it's like motor oil, it's just really thick. And

Unknown:

was it sweet,

Suzanne Wells:

sort of but

Unknown:

you're not going to get a job on the sorghum Council anytime.

Suzanne Wells:

No, I'm not going to do a sorghum ad, one of those things that your parent eats, and you just kind of observe it and be like, Okay, enjoy.

Unknown:

And you try not to think about diabetes.

Suzanne Wells:

Anyway, back to eBay. Said, I told you, we get sidetracked. Yes,

Unknown:

that's fun. So where do you get your items to sell. So I auctions are my happy place. That's where I prefer to go. That takes an act of Congress to have childcare and to get there. My family does help me do that. There's a couple of auctions that I really like. There's there's a local one in Farmersville. You can even look at it online. It's wild. It's it's a state clean outs Farmersville auctions, and it's every Tuesday, and Suzanne, it is the best people watching around. If you're lucky, you're there with the guy that walks around with a live parrot on his shoulder. He's a buyer, and so that's always a fun treat, if he brings his parrot to the auction. But they have, it's a state clean outs, and they have like, three auctions going on at once. So it's a very busy time. There's inside. You can go outside out back, which is box lots, and you can go outside out front, which is like, outdoor, um. Man stuff, tools and rusty man stuff, Rusty stuff that I don't know that lots of chains. I just now I have to go look, because I heard about your person selling boxes of chains. So now that was

Suzanne Wells:

picky old fuss budget. I think her, yeah, Paula, but she likes to be incognito on on social media, but, yeah, she sold this rusty chain, awesome. And it like, okay, like,

Unknown:

yes, did an

Suzanne Wells:

owner of a Cracker Barrel buy this hanging on the wall? Like, what is going on here? But

Unknown:

you know that that is, it's a tremendous place to find things to resell. For a couple of reasons, there's all different kinds of people. So I know that there's folks from the Adams town shops that come down to source there. So I know that there's good stuff, because people who make their living selling antiques and vintage in stores come there. So I know that there's good stuff, and I've learned a lot about buying there. For example, if there's an estate clean out and I find something on the table that's quality, I realized that all the things on the same table came from the same house, right? So then I now I know to look closely at some of the other things. If I can recognize one thing as possibly something to buy, then I need to look closely at the table next to it and the table right after it. Yes. For those things,

Suzanne Wells:

I do the same thing when I'm looking at online auctions. Yes. So you kind of go through the first couple pages and it's like, it's all framed art or ceramic stuff, or, like, No, and I don't even look any further, I like the ones that have, like, 28 pages of stuff, all these box lots of weird things. And that's what I want is, is where they just title it like box of guy things. Yes, it's like nothing that anybody would search for. You just stumble on it. And some of them even say all the leftovers. Yes, you're and that's what I want to look through is what is in there. And this keeps happening where I'll see one or two things that are really high dollar, and I'll go ahead and bid on it and win, and then you just tell the the company, I need that shipped, but I only want this, this and this and that cuts down your shipping cost, and you don't have to figure out, you know, why have it shipped to you? If you don't want it, and they're, they're fine to do that, they'll re donate it, or somebody that works there will want it, or it works out. But those are the ones I like. Is the junkier the better.

Unknown:

Yes, and, and there's an auction. Are you? Do you have CT bids in your area? Caring transition? Yes, we do that. Okay? I shop on Uh huh. So, so I look at the CT bids auctions in our area, and they one of their favorite, the local franchise. One of their favorite things is to say, you know, cut crystal and more. And I'm like, Yes, give me the and more, because they don't picture it in the initial photo, right? So then you you know, then you have to click on it and see what else. And sometimes, you know, there's a really nice surprise. There something else about the CT bids is, the ones in our area, they have a cash and carry sale when you come to pick em up in person. So you come to pick up your stuff and the stuff they found after they list everything for auction is out in the driveway, and they just are desperate to get rid of it. And I have found more treasures in a house with things that I was interested in and bought from then I then, I always bring my cash and spend time looking through. I try to be one of the earlier pickup windows, and I try and get there and look through for, you know, sometimes it's linens, you know, because who wants to they were, they were hiding somewhere in the house, and weren't something they pulled out for the initial auction. And so I find linens, and I'm, I am taking linens and repurposing them, taking the good embroidery and putting it on a pillow, and then so I also sell locally, in a local gift shop. And so I'm that's where the bits and pieces from, the things that I don't sell on eBay go. I'm finding some success in doing that, my lot is paid for by my eBay sale. I get a good sale, and so all the stuff in the box lot is now no cost to me, like the cost is way covered, and I've got little miniature Hagan reneker lot. Like dog figurines for days, and I sell them individually for just a couple bucks at the gift shop and and they take a commission. They take 40% which is high, but if you know, 60% of zero is pretty good, that's that's still I get 60% of something. I didn't, I didn't really invest a lot of money in so, so I ended up,

Suzanne Wells:

adds up, if you dollars a month doing that, yeah, that's

Unknown:

and, and I don't make much more than that, honestly, but, but it's it also scratches another itch I have, and that is to, like, create a vignette. I love to, you know, make a little beautiful scene with vintage things. And, yeah, and, and I have an Instagram for that, but, but I don't, you know, I don't spend a lot of time trying to gain followers there. It's just, it's fun. I mean, it's as much for my mom to see what I'm doing. Is anything,

Suzanne Wells:

right, exactly, yeah. And you asked me if I was on Instagram. No, I'm not. Um, my daughter told me that's not going to be for you, Mom, that's not. Oh, really, your people, and you know, my my tribe is on Facebook, and my group, okay, a business page, and I do the podcast, and I have YouTube, and it's yeah, no, you don't need anymore, yeah. And I write my books and have my school, and it's like, I really can't fit anything else in there. No, but yeah, you did show me some of your vignettes and little, just little crafty things that you put, yes, that are cute. And yeah,

Unknown:

like at Christmas time i i bought, I bought a lot of jewelry at Farmersville, at the Farmersville auction. And there was two signed pieces that I did really well on on eBay, um, a brooch and some, some signed copper jewelry by a mid century craft person. I did really well on those. But then there was these random monopoly pieces. Okay, so what am I going to do with them? So I sent you that photo, but I stuck, I stuck a bristle brush Christmas tree in a little Santa character pot, and I stuck the monopoly pieces in the tree, which kind of made his, like Santa's hat. And that was one of the first things that sold at Christmas time in that gift shop. Was the monopoly piece Santa hat, the little, you know, it's just a little shelf sitter, let me I'm

Suzanne Wells:

pulling that picture up so I see that. Oh, okay, yeah. Those are the houses and hotels and the, yeah, new and the thimble and just all stuck in the Santa's hat. Super random.

Unknown:

Yeah? I mean, I'm I, while I made it, I laughed the whole time. I thought, This is hilarious. What is, what is going on? But I'm just trying to use, you know, it's like, it's like eBay scrapple, trying to use all the bits and pieces of the Christmas

Suzanne Wells:

trees made out of what? Wooden spools? Yes, I

Unknown:

bought a lot. Nobody wanted it. It was $1 for 75 empty wooden spools and and I decided that. So what I Googled, reuse wooden spools, or crafting with wooden spools. And so I found the wreath idea online and copied it, but the Christmas tree one I came up with. So that's my that's my laundry room windowsill, I think I said, Okay, full of, full of the things that I was making. And I but it's, it's very farmhouse, yes, which is the area that I'm in,

Suzanne Wells:

trending thing, yes. And I can see people, do you have that on eBay, or is that just in the gift store? That was

Unknown:

only in the store, and I sold them all out. And that's so, so I tend to like things maybe a little different than farmhouse, even though I'm a farm girl, maybe, maybe because I was a real farm girl, I'm like, really over farmhouse, right? Exactly,

Suzanne Wells:

trying to be city trendy with farmhouse, but I know

Unknown:

that's what people in my area like and so, and it's fun to make them, and it's fun to have friends that are like, I love this, you know, right?

Suzanne Wells:

The non crafty people that just aren't into it or don't have time, right? Don't feel creative. Mm, hmm. Love that kind of stuff. Yep,

Unknown:

yes. So, so I had fun making that. And then if I want to sell things that people in my area don't like. Then I go to eBay and I can find people that like the stuff that I have there. So yeah, so I do divide there. I do both things, and they both meet a need for me, very

Suzanne Wells:

good. That's that's what you need to do when you've got all. These leftover odds and ends things, yes, I I go down the rabbit hole of, oh, I'm going to buy this box lot with all these things. I'm going to go through them, and then I get about halfway through it, and I'm like, Yeah, I'm over this. I'm just going to put all this together in

Unknown:

a lot, yeah, yeah. And do you sell them? Does that sell for you? Well, sometimes,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, I've just started doing that. Like, I bought a whole bunch of doll house furniture the Fisher Price loving family. Oh, my daughter loved all these, like you say, vignettes like the living room and the bedroom, and some of them have sold. But when I go back through my listings and end and restart to refresh them. Whatever's still there, I'm just going to end it and put it all together in a lot, yeah, okay. Like I do that when the listing is about three months old. So if it's not getting offers or showing up in my send offer, like it's not getting any attention, that's when I say, you know, that's my that didn't work too good. I am too and the purpose is a to get my money back out of it, sure, just even if I break even, that's fine. I tested it. I tried it out, yep. And then

Unknown:

you can reinvest it somewhere else. It was learning,

Suzanne Wells:

and it's fine, and somebody's going to get a deal, and it keeps things moving, because we all have access to way too much stuff. That's never the problem. There's I hear,

Unknown:

I hear you saying that to me, there's always more stuff. I can hear your, your voice in my head saying that if I miss, if I miss a sale at an auction, I'm like, oh, I should have bid one more time that, yeah, you, you comfort me. You say there's

Suzanne Wells:

like intuitive gut feeling of discomfort somebody could be using that is sitting in this closet. Somebody could be using that. I just, I'll just sell it at cost or put it on auction and see what happens on certain things, like, if it was an experiment, I just, I hate for things to sit when somebody could be using it, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, well, I'm gonna pick your brain here. So what is your best eBay sale?

Unknown:

Um, I have a couple of them. One of them I put on your big monthly list on Facebook was the Kugel ornament. Yeah, I didn't do the research on before I enjoyed it in my house. So I bought it with a lot of vintage ornaments, which I put in my shop at Christmas time, I put in the gift shop for a couple of dollars a piece, and they all sold. But I the big, green, Berry shaped ornament. I thought this is old, and I wonder if it's a Google but I I just put it into a vignette in my home and enjoyed it. And then it was time. It's January, and it's time to take down the Christmas things already and and freshen up for the new year. And I thought, well, now I'll put it away, and then I couldn't find a really a safe place to store it. It was, it's large, and it didn't fit in my ornament box. And I thought, Do I really want it? I'm not in love with it. It might be really old. How valuable is this? And I started researching and about, swallowed my face. It was, it was very valuable, and I sold it quickly. It's, I think I only pay, I know I paid less than $10 for it. I probably paid less than five because it was in a lot and everything else that I had sold already paid for the cost of that lot. And so this was, like, free and clear, and it sold for, I don't even remember, over $500 was it $500

Suzanne Wells:

Well, I I'm looking at my business page because I featured that on my business page. And yes, it's not going back far enough for me to see it, because it was within the last, I don't know, six weeks, yeah, yeah, but that, that post got a record number of views like, what he's the trigger.

Unknown:

The trigger was the shape so, so Kugel of ornaments, of course, are are valuable, and it's really difficult to tell if one is real or not. But there's, there's ways you know, you can research that. And this had all the hallmarks of it being real. And then I realized that the shape, I was calling it a grape, and that's the problem. It was, it wasn't a grape when I was researching it, it was a berry shape, and that means something entirely so just to spend the extra time to really figure out what category of an ornament this was, was, was the difference in a couple of $100 for me, I'm bringing, I'll bring it up here online if you can. Can't find it, I'll be able to go

Suzanne Wells:

spell the word Kugel,

Unknown:

K, U, G, E, L, okay, get in there. There. It sold. Okay, I took an offer for 500 Okay, yep, so that's what it sold for. The person was thrilled to get it, and she messaged me afterwards and says she's going to enjoy it for a little bit, and then she might even resell it, because there's room for her to make some money. So that gives you an idea of the desirability of that specific shape. It's, it's, it's, it looks like a raspberry, like the the bubbles on a raspberry. Got it now. And antique German Green mercury glass, yeah, it

Suzanne Wells:

looks like a cluster of grapes, you're exactly right. And it's like a metallic like a glass ornament. But

Unknown:

if you look at the Googles that are selling or have sold that are called grapes, those are much more elongated. Okay, so, so it, you know, and they're more common the grape Googles from the that era, they must have made more, or people bought more, and that this one wasn't as as produced.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, here are your stats, and you're right up there with Bill hunt in his junk drawer. Reach is 49,600

Unknown:

that What are you reading? I don't know which

Suzanne Wells:

I'm looking at my stats on my Facebook page. Okay, business page got it so it's, it's people who saw this and looked at it on Facebook. Because I, you know, I put people's sales up there, yes, likes and reactions, 402 34 comments.

Unknown:

Oh, I'll tell you. You know, Christmas, the Christmas stuff is nutty.

Suzanne Wells:

Not every post gets that, you know, I see it make averages about, you know, 5000 views or something on my Facebook page. This is Yeah, but yeah, it's got a picture of that antique German Green mercury glass Kugel berry shape ornament, yes. So if anybody listening wants to look that up under sold listings on eBay research, you can see that, but yeah, it had it had, it got a lot of attention. Yes, people are like, what? And there was sins on the business page, is it? It's not everybody in the group. It's just if it, if they like the page, or it could be a suggested page. But yeah, that. And the Kathy kepke with her beautifully laid out ties, got a lot. Oh, I'll have to look that up. And then Bill hunt with his junk drawer lot that is sold for 20 bucks. But people are like, what you've been

Unknown:

I have a junk drawer. Everybody has thinking, right? Exactly. Um, one other eBay sale that was like, for me was the hook you talk about, people get hooked on eBay. One of the early things I sold, and the story is so great. I'm sitting at Farmersville auction, right? I'm people watching, looking for the guy with the parrot on his shoulder. And my husband is there because he knows that that's the way to my heart. So it was a date day. He said, let's let's do something you want to do. I'll take you to Farmersville, and then we'll go out for lunch. So he's just sitting there minding his own business, and I'm talking to my husband and the and the auctioneer says, What is that you got there? He's talking to the to the runner, who's holding the next item up for bid, and he says, what is that? Is a liquor bottle. What? I don't know what it is. What does it say on that? Hermes, Hermes. A Hermes. I almost got whiplash from whipping my head around, and there is an Hermes colored box, and they're holding up an empty, huge, like store display size, empty bottle. And I'm like, I gotta go, I said to my husband, and I went running over there and got it for $1 because nobody else knew what Hermes liquor was, or they weren't paying attention. And so it's an example of looking for things to buy that the person who's selling doesn't know the value of right, or doesn't whatever reason these, these, the folks didn't know Hermes, or they weren't thinking Hermes because they thought it was alcohol. I don't, know, and I sold it. I sold it for 100 bucks. The box was in terrible shape, and and I paid $1 and my husband thought that I was like, magic,

Suzanne Wells:

right? Like, how did you know that? How did I know that? Yeah, so for the listeners, H, E, R, M, E, S. S is French, and it is not pronounced Hermes. It is pronounced a, i, r, M, E, Z, Hermes, yes. So now you know that fancy word, and usually you see it like on scarves and maybe jewelry and

Unknown:

purses leather Of course, they started out as a leather goods, yeah, fine

Suzanne Wells:

leather goods, things like that. And it has the horse and carriage is their logo. So now you can impress all your friends with talking about Hermes. Darling. Yes, exactly, exactly, and yeah, down in the south like, yeah, it's definitely Hermes down here. No, that is not how you do it.

Unknown:

So, yeah. So that was a that was a hook for me,

Suzanne Wells:

yes, because, yeah, you just don't know what's going to show up in those auctions and you have, or, importantly, you don't know what everyone else knows or doesn't know, and that is the key to this reselling business, is what you know, or at least look up and figure out, because you know, a lot of sellers think, oh, I don't know enough. Well, nobody knows everything and nobody can. It's just continue learning. But I will, I will say, when I write my books, it's like, I look through them as a review of things, because there's just so much out there. And that's the reason I started writing those was I was doing it for myself, and I was like, well, maybe other people could benefit from this. And it's like, there's just no way to know it all. There's just always more. And

Unknown:

it's delightful to learn. That's, yes, that's something. It really, it really talks to me. It's just delightful to learn and research. That's probably my favorite thing. Is you talk about sorting through a box and you get tired of it. There is nothing I would rather do than sort through a box and figure out what it is. I love it. I

Suzanne Wells:

mean, you get down to the picked over stuff, you know, like, like the big Whitman's chocolate sampler, you eat all the stuff you like first, and you're left with the jellies and the yeah fees and the jellies and like,

Unknown:

that's why people have chickens, I guess

Suzanne Wells:

so. But yeah, I always liked the creams, the coconut cream and the raspberry cream, caramels, or the caramels, yeah, the caramel and the Yeah, the nougats. Those block loss are like that. You just Yeah, I got all the leftover stuff. I just don't want to look at it anymore. I've picked out all good things.

Unknown:

Yes, I'm I'm looking at my thing here. Something else I liked. I bought a bag. I think I even said this on one of your forums, but I bought a bag for$5 at Goodwill. So I do get into Goodwills. We have some good ones in the area. And I bought a bag of these greeting cards for five bucks. And there was over 80 of them in there, all the same card. But they are records they that play. It's a happy birthday card, and it's, it's a picture of a they're from. It's from 1960 so that's what attracted me, that the age of it, they were all in great shape. And it has like a cartoon Big Band guys on the front, like, with their saxophones, and they're like, skinny ties and musicians. And then inside it says, You're a hep cat, happy birthday or something. I don't even remember. It's over a year ago, same card, but when you put it on a record player, it plays a happy birthday song. It's got, it's got the imprint on it. Back in the day, there used to be, like cereal boxes with some of the with a record on you could play, I don't know if any of your listeners remember that. In the late 70s, early Yeah, boxes would do that. And so I, I got 80 of them for five bucks, and I sell one a month, probably for as it's a birthday card, it's a record, and it's big band, and somebody buys it for somebody, and they love them. I get that's the thing I get the most feedback on, is how tickled they are for this unique record card, and so that's fun. It's just, it just kind of residual keeps on giving. That

Suzanne Wells:

reminds me of the the duck orange juice somebody talked about these duck orange juice containers, that it's just something people want, and it's like, a very vintage thing, you just don't know. And it's like, could look like trash to one person. Yes, this other guy over here is like, oh, oh, I want that so bad.

Unknown:

Well, and I know that. I know that my teens, and even my younger brother, even they're they're into records again, so, so it's a great. Gift for someone who is rediscovering vinyl. Yeah, it's really fun. Absolutely,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, gosh, what comes in cereal boxes. Back in the day, you know, you bought the cereal to get the prize, and we would just open the box of cereal and pour it into a giant bowl just to find the prize.

Unknown:

Oh, man, I had it mastered. I could just shake the box at the right angle till I found it. It was like, you know, hunting. I didn't have to pour the cereal out, man, I was good at that. Yeah, and we get all I made my brother. I made my brother mad. I mean,

Suzanne Wells:

the prizes were dumb. They weren't even anything good. It was just that it was the prize? Yes,

Unknown:

you got it right. Shout out to my brother, who got his prizes stolen out of our cereal. Sorry.

Suzanne Wells:

How many kids were in your family? It

Unknown:

was just me and him. It was just me and my brother, Dan and mom and dad on the dairy farm, and he works for agricultural company now, and and, yeah, so I told him. I said, Hey, I'm doing a podcast with Suzanne. And, of course, he doesn't know who you are, because he doesn't do eBay. But he's like, Well, that sounds legit. Like he's surprised.

Suzanne Wells:

Yes, this is legit. Everyone on this podcast is a real person that's not an AI person that's made up, and they have real things in the background that I will notice. Yes,

Unknown:

that's so funny, because when I looked at my background, I thought, Oh, I don't think she can see anything back there, but I don't think

Suzanne Wells:

there's anything incriminating. It's on my eBay. X ray vision, yes,

Unknown:

do you do that? Do you go into people's houses and look at stuff that you're like, wait, I should be paying attention to what they're saying everywhere.

Suzanne Wells:

Are you kidding? TV shows, movies, people's houses, anything like that. You know, Cracker Barrel, what's hanging on their walls in here that they could possibly buy on eBay? Yeah,

Unknown:

no, definitely, absolutely,

Suzanne Wells:

I think, well, it's just something you can't

Unknown:

turn off. No, you're right. Well, you're always looking, yeah, thrift stores,

Suzanne Wells:

auctions, whatever you're doing, you're always looking. So, and that is a great skill to have. So well, we have made it to the end here. Do you have any final words for our listeners?

Unknown:

Sure? I think if you're not having fun, you're not doing it right? Is one thing. I am really into using social media as a tool to watch for trends. It helps me, because I have a 21 year old daughter, so I can see the kind of things that her and her friends, like I love interior decor. That's mostly what I'm selling is, is household things, and so I am always listening for what they're talking about. That's where I learned about coastal Grandma,

Suzanne Wells:

you know? Oh, I love that, yes.

Unknown:

So, so it's like, it's, you know, it's the vibe, it's the it's the grandma core, anything

Suzanne Wells:

Diane Keaton would wear or have in a beach movie, yes, the hat. So,

Unknown:

yeah, and I've used, I've used coastal grandma and keywords. Something that's emerging is I see, I'm seeing French Country everywhere, yes, and, and that just makes me so happy. It's like, the things that I like are becoming trendy. It's I, you know, I I'm used to being outdated or kind of an odd bird, but it's pretty wild when the stuff I like is coming into the French country

Suzanne Wells:

is kind of like farmhouse, but softer and more romantic and more oral and more

Unknown:

history to it. Yeah, yeah, the y, 2k, all of those things. But my other tip would be, when you're when you're sourcing, and you're at a place where you have a certain vibe, I go to a, I go to a guy's barn who does estate sale clean outs, and he opens it up to the public every last Saturday of the month. And he loves, there's certain things he loves. He loves Marvel things, I mean, like, it's pretty much, here's that stereotypical man stuff, and that is where I get the the best deals on embroidery kits and stemware and bone china dog figurines and glassware, because he doesn't like it. Mm, hmm, and he just wants it to get out of the way so that he can put more military books and things. And I and he knows this about himself, and I love the guy. He does this great service. It's, it is J dog, and he employs vets. It's a tremendous. This service that he does with the stateside clean house, but he likes his thing, and I am just really happy to buy at great prices the stuff he doesn't like. So look for the stuff that is not the seller's favorite, and you're going to do really well buying low and being able to turn a really good profit. So that would be my tip.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, that is a great tip for sure. Well, what is on your agenda today? Wow,

Unknown:

I just got, I did the grocery shopping already, so I need to, I need to batten down the hatches. We're supposed to get the rain here in the next couple of days.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, it's here in South Carolina. It's pretty gloomy and gray, and I'm glad

Unknown:

with it. Oh, we've got bright sunshine, so I gotta get my tomatoes planted. Oh, good. The rule in this zone is don't plant things until after Mother's Day. If you don't want to danger of frost. You know that's the Okay, that's the thing. So rule

Suzanne Wells:

here is, don't go outside until the pollen is over. It's

Unknown:

terrible, isn't

Suzanne Wells:

it? Oh my gosh. On my little lake trip, the pollen got all in my eyes, and my my vision was all blurry, and I was doing all these different eye drops, like, what is the problem? I didn't think to check the pollen count was like, nine out of 10, and

Unknown:

you can see it on your windshield. I thought, well, the the pine

Suzanne Wells:

pollen, yes, is is yellow, but there's just other tree pollen that is, can't really see it. And I just thought, oh my gosh, I'm gonna have to go the eye doctor. I I'm losing my vision. I don't know what's going on. And then I just realized pollen stay inside and just wait for it to clear up. And that's what it was. So there's,

Unknown:

there's my youngest, my my dear little boy who can't tell me what hurts. Oh, has bad allergies. And so we have, we got some new eye drops, huh? From Costco, of course, because you get a pack of three. Yeah, you should try them if you have eye issues. They're called pad a day. It's a new, yes, I've heard of those. Oh, they're it's life changing for us, really. I mean, it's a, it's a WWE wrestling match to get them in his eye.

Suzanne Wells:

You are a Jane of all trades. Oh,

Unknown:

man, I we. It's necessity is the mother of invention, right? So you just, you have to do it, but it's the kind of thing where it's like, if you don't let me do this, then you're going to suffer. So I can, I can wrestle with you for a while, and then eventually we laugh.

Suzanne Wells:

So this is kind of related. I saw something on a reel the other day of a hack to trim your dog's toenails. Oh no. You basically put some saran wrap around your forehead, and you put peanut butter on it, and then you just kind of lean in and let the dog be obsessed with the peanut butter while you're clipping their nails. Does it work? Have you tried this? I don't have a dog. I don't I was like, that's pretty, pretty darn creative. There with peanut butter on your head.

Unknown:

It's the art of distraction. Yes,

Suzanne Wells:

you got to distract them exactly. So anyway, that is way off the eBay.

Unknown:

Yeah, I'm trying to, can we turn that into an eBay lesson? I

Suzanne Wells:

don't know. Maybe you could make a kit, dog nail trimming kit with some saran wrap and, yeah, butter and some nail clippers

Unknown:

and some old game pieces. Yes.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, it has just been a joy talking with you. And again, I commend you on how you're balancing everything and being super mom and just you do a lot. So keep thank you

Unknown:

so much. Thank you so much for forming this community so that I can learn. I it's, it's really good for my quality of

Suzanne Wells:

life. So thank you well and keep those Christmas ornaments coming. Yes, ma'am, okay, ma'am, thanks again. Have a good day.

Unknown:

All right, bye, bye, bye.

Suzanne Wells:

And now for some parting words. We talked about sorghum in our discussion of regional foods, and here are the details. And all of you, sorghum people don't yell at me for comparing it to molasses. So no sorghum syrup and molasses are not the same, although they can be used interchangeably in some recipes, sorghum syrup is made from the juice of the sorghum plant, while molasses is a byproduct of processing sugar cane or sugar beets, they have different flavor profiles, nutritional content and production methods. So that is your quick and dirty comparison of sorghum and molasses. So. My dad was from Mobile, Alabama, where sorghum was a popular crop back in the day. I personally do not care for it. I am more of a connoisseur of honey, specifically unfiltered orange blossom honey is my favorite. Okay, next week, my guest is Dara, who is an avid listener and reached out to me to come on the podcast. She is a teacher and part time eBay seller, which is a common scenario among resellers. Thanks so much for listening, and don't forget to check out the newly released bolo books in ebook format, first and second edition so far, at the link below. And there are no repeats in these books. Each edition contains 125 different items with big, beautiful pictures and average selling prices, so you will be armed and dangerous when you go out in the wild to source for eBay. You have any trouble at all, please contact me directly, and I will make it happen for you. Talk to you next week. Bye, everybody. You