eBay the Right Way

eBay Seller Chat with Dara in Indiana: School Teacher Flipper Loves Online Auctions & Church Rummage Sales ⛪️

• Suzanne A. Wells • Episode 220

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Suzanne Wells:

Foreign Hello, fine people out there in podcast land. I'm Suzanne, and this is episode number 220 of eBay, the right way. Today's date is June 4, 2025 and my guest is Dara in Indiana. No announcements this week, other than a reminder that I am converting all of my bolo books to ebooks. That means instant downloads. If you prefer a printed copy, there are a few left in my eBay store, but once the hard copies are gone, that's it. I won't be reprinting them due to the rising cost of printing and production. So we are going digital. All past and future editions will be ebooks Okay, now let's talk with Dara. Hello listeners, and welcome back. I have a guest that actually reached out to me wanting to come on the podcast. So we have Dara with us today. And how are you well, it's afternoon. So how are you

Unknown:

doing today? Pretty good, pretty good. So okay,

Suzanne Wells:

and you've just kicked off summer where you are get finishing up your school year. Yes, yesterday

Unknown:

was the last student day, so we are on vacation, so lots of time to go thrifting. Yay.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, and where are you located? We

Unknown:

are in a tiny town north of Fort Wayne, Indiana. We're pretty rural. There's only my husband. I teach at a middle school, sixth, seventh and eighth grade in our building, and we have about 100 kids per grade, so it's a pretty small school. So

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, okay, all right, so you're ready to shift gears and go full time eBay for a little while, until we go back to school, which a lot of teachers do.

Unknown:

Yeah, I I think it's fun because I can, I mean, this last month was really kind of crazy, and I didn't think my sales were very high, but I know, now that I'm done with school, I've thought about changing it to one day shipping time, and I want to try to ramp up and go to some garage sales and things. So my husband and I did agree to teach summer school, so, but that's only for two weeks, and it's only eight till noon, so we can still there's still time to go shopping. Oh, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah. And I think it works out perfectly with the garage sales and yard sales, because it's summer and that's when they're all happening. So go ahead and stock up for the rest of the year while you have time and inventories available. So yeah, good. And so do you do it together with your husband?

Unknown:

No, he doesn't have any interest, except, of course, when I come and tell him about the great sales that I've made, of course, then he's interested. So I told him about a sale I just made this morning, and he was he just is flabbergasted at the things that people buy. So, yeah, he has a really high interest in bike riding, which he likes really fancy bikes, so I help support his hobby with selling things. So, oh, okay,

Suzanne Wells:

I know it's like those of us that are so into it, it's hard for us to grasp that other people don't get excited about it.

Unknown:

They come home, and if whatever kids are home, I always say, Do you want to see my hall? And they say, I guess. But they're not that excited about it, but they'll at least so.

Suzanne Wells:

And when I first started back in the early 2000s my mom lived with me for a while. She had had hip surgery, and we we helped each other, so that was a good arrangement. But I would come back from thrifting and I'd be pulling stuff out, oh, and I found this, and I found this, and she would have no idea what I was talking about, and she would just, well, that's wonderful, honey. You know what the mother says? Well, I'm so glad that you're happy about that. So thank goodness for social media, because we can talk to other people who get

Unknown:

it. Yes, yes. So, so when did

Suzanne Wells:

you start eBay? And how did that happen? You.

Unknown:

Well, I looked in how long I've been a member of Ebay. I probably had an eBay account for years, but I just started selling a lot on eBay in the last couple years. We have a lot of kids, and whenever they would outgrow things, I would always sell them on Facebook marketplace, and I would just take a ton of clothes and lot them together and sell them for pretty cheap, and then buy more clothes for especially my youngest daughter, she was kind of a closed person. And then you were able to start shipping things through Facebook marketplace. And I was making a killing like I was just, I would go into their room, if it was messy, and I would say, Hey, can we sell that? Can we sell that? Can we sell that? And our principal is a really good friend of ours, and she had some purses, and she said, Hey, could you sell these for me? You know, when we could split the money, 5050, so I did that with her. And then I thought of a little my son's girlfriend at the time, was taking some business classes, and I was thinking of a name for my business and I called myself the mother flipper, and she made little business cards for me. And then other teachers got interested, so they were just cleaning up massive amounts of closets and and and we were doing 5050 I even got some people in the community who were and then Facebook marketplace stopped really doing the shipping. And I didn't really like venmoing that money every month, so I started going more shopping at thrift stores and things. So it was my goal last summer to be completely on my own and have just my own things. So probably I've been selling for about a year and a half on eBay, but about a year that's just been I go out and source all my own things. I just had another lady message me and say, Oh, my daughter cleaned out her closet. I have some things for you. And I had told everyone, I'm not doing that. So what I did instead was I just bought the things for from her outright, like I went through all of her things and said, I could give you this much, I said, But I told her, honestly, you might be better off going to, you know, a resale place yourself, because it was a lot of things that I know don't have a lot of value to them. So I was just going down to our staff breakfast today, and a teacher asked me, Do you still sell things on eBay? And I said, Yeah. And he said, I just have a whole lot of things. And I just kind of kept walking because I don't want to take any other people's things. I just want to get my own stuff. So I would say, for the last year and a half, I've really taken off on ebay so, and honestly, I had downloaded the app before, and it always just seemed really confusing, it seemed overwhelming, and then I just sat and got into it, and it's, it's not that hard to do, so it's fun to do. So,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, I think new people look at it, and there's just so much you have to learn. But if you just start, you'll learn as you go. You don't have to know everything before you list your first item. You'll figure it out. And then back to the selling things for other people, I think that's good when you're new, because you don't have to buy things. You can learn on other people's stuff. And trust me, it I still do. I still learn as I'm going but it's like, yeah, I don't want to do that again. I'm not doing that again. And it can be tricky selling things for other people because they always think it's worth more than it is. Yeah, they always think it's going to sell faster than it does, and it can be uncomfortable and, you know, affect relationships. It doesn't work out the way they want. Because a lot of times people see us as, you know, a meal ticket like, oh, take my stuff to Suzanne and have her sell it. And, you know, I've started the last, I don't know, five years or so, just saying, Yeah, I really can't take that on. I've got too much of my own stuff. I'll never get to it, right? It's better for you to go on to my school and learn how to do it, which is one reason I started that school, yeah, place to send people. Or, like, you said, Go to Plato's Closet. Or, what's the Once Upon a child, you know, the kid one, yeah, or have a garage sale, or, like, do something on your own. That's non eBay, because it's true. You know, you want to work on your own stuff in 100% Yeah, the money. And there's nothing wrong with consignment. A lot of people do it and love it, and that's is whatever works for you. So there's. Pros and cons to every arrangement. Yeah,

Unknown:

and a lot of the my teacher friends that I did it for, they were all just, I just want to get rid of it. Like, I don't care how much I make, like, it's just making a little bit of money. But then it was just giving a lot of things. Like, some of them had kids and kids, I don't really do too many kids clothes, but it was just stuff that was really worn, so I was just making a pile of possibly sell, would sell, and then just goodwill. And a lot of the goodwill pile was so much bigger. And then actually another teacher gave me some stuff right before spring break, and it was all her kid stuff, and she had asked me, Are you still taking things? I was like, oh, not really, but she's a good friend. So I said, Yes. And I said, like, you know what kind of brands? And she said, well, like, a lot of sheen and stuff. And I was like, I probably won't sell that. So I ended up taking, like, the whole bag to once upon a child, and I think I got like, 80 bucks, and I gave her 40, and I kept 40, and I said, Is this okay with you? And she's like, Oh yeah, fine. But I mean, she could have done that and just kept it all. But the few people that I like, I kind of put, like a little Facebook post, the few people that I got from the community. One lady was definitely like, you only got that much, you know. And, and my son is really good at spreadsheets, so he made me a little, you know, a record, you know, how much I made, how much they made, how much I made. So I could give that to them every month as well, but she was not very happy, and I thought, I don't really want to do this anymore. So it's fun to just find your own stuff and and what can I, you know, turn that into or, or sometimes you're saving something like that's just going to be get thrown away. But I bet you know, somebody would really love to have that. So Right,

Suzanne Wells:

right. And back to the selling for other people, I think for a lot of people, it's just the unknown is scary. They just like, oh, you know how to do it. And even if it's just taking it to a consignment once upon a child or plato's closet or wherever. And like a lot of people, are afraid to do that because they just don't know how it works. And, you know, maybe they just don't like to venture out into new things, but they see you being successful with it. It's like, oh, she knows how to do it. So, you know, you have to have the personality to dive into it and figure it out. Yeah. So is you mentioned goodwill is that your one of your go tos for getting items to sell.

Unknown:

Um, we where we live. We've got a lot of good wells north of us and south of us, and then we have the goodwill bins in Indianapolis, Indiana. So last year, like kind of starting off on just doing all my own stuff. I really liked garage sales. Um, I've gone to a few this summer, and I've already kind of decided I kind of like going to one place where there's everything. And our goodwill, I think we're very lucky, because I don't hear about this a lot, but our goodwill has 50% off days. So, like, Monday is a 50% off day. I already told my husband, that's where I'm going. I'm going to go, you know, on Monday. And so I do like Goodwill, um, I do like rummage sales. And because a lot of times you can fill up a bag for however much. But my husband keeps telling me, I think those are more for people in need. And I said, No, I think they just want to. They just want to get rid of the stuff. And it's

Suzanne Wells:

going, Yeah, you're, you're definitely in need. I need to sell in my store.

Unknown:

That's a good thing to tell them.

Suzanne Wells:

So you're talking about, like, church sales, yep, yes, yeah. And I do love those. There's not a whole lot of them around me, but it's, there's a sense of urgency, because, you know, they have it once a year, usually, and they gotta get rid of all that stuff in sometimes only two days, you know, Friday and a Saturday. And, you know, they collect stuff all year, and may have it in a a storage unit or somewhere in the church. It's all stored. And it's an event. The volunteers love doing it. I did it for a few years for a really big church, just to help them price things. And, you know, that was fun, but you know, it was like, well, we gotta get this stuff sold because we don't want to, you know, they have to pay or they have to get volunteers to haul it off, to donate it, or whatever it is. So, yeah, I love those, you know, fill a bag on the last thing, fill a bag for$1 just, please take our stuff, get it out. Yeah, yeah.

Unknown:

So I just stopped at one last week. I was going to do a grocery pickup, and I saw there was a church, is really small church, and I walked in and, you know, there is really, it was in the sanctuary. So they needed to get everything out of there by Sunday, I'm sure. And there were just two ladies sitting in there. There was no one in there, and nothing was marked. And I said, how, you know, what are the prices? And they said, Oh, just free will donation. Oh, my goodness. I found a couple things, and then I found more things. And I thought, Oh, can I make a pile here? And I mean, I just. I got a ton of great things, and then I don't know if this is the right way to do it, but on that spreadsheet that my son has every time I'm done sourcing, I take all of the things I bought that day and I divide it by the total that I spent. So I figure each item and what it so I so I had a Kate Spade little phone case that's listed pretty high on face or on market or on eBay, but I haven't listed it yet. And for me, that cost $1.50 so I'm just anything I make over $1.50 is great. So, but that's kind of how I figure it. But yeah, they were just like, Free Will donation, whatever you want to donate. And, and I said, you know, is this amount fine? And they're like, Oh, that's great. Yeah, I'm gonna have to tell my husband, you're right. It's for people who need things to sell. So, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

I mean, and we get that as resellers every now and then, something will pop up about that on my group and, you know, somebody in a thrift store or a church store will kind of figure out that you're a reseller, and I never broadcast it, but yeah, and because I don't need, I don't need your opinion, I'm doing fine, right? But, you know, they'll be like, Oh, these are for for people in need. And I'm like, my opinion has always been, you know, I started this when I was a single mom. I'd lost my job. I'm in need. I'm out there hustling it to make money, so I'm not on public assistance, and right, you know, trying to figure out ways to do this. And I remember one incident, it was a cashmere coat. It was a beautiful overcoat, and I knew I could get at least $100 for that. So I bought that, and I put it on eBay, and somebody messaged me about, you know, I see that, or I hear that you're getting things from thrift stores, and you're taking things away from the needy, and there's, you know, there's not going to be enough. And I'm thinking, well, first of all, like a cashmere coat, like, Why does a person who needs a coat need that one? You know, right? And no, we're never going to run out of stuff. There is so much out there. And I just commend anybody who does reselling, because you're working. You are hustling it. You're taking a chance. You know, you're investing your money. Sometimes you get stuff free, but you're investing your money and buying stuff. And I just, I don't think we're taking anything away from anybody. I think we're rehoming things people that need them, right, right. And I think that coat went overseas to, like, somewhere it was really cold, like Iceland or Russia, or something like that. And everybody was happy. Yeah, yeah. Oh, and back to your spreadsheet. I used to enter the items one by one what I paid. But this keeping is a hassle. I don't really want to do it, so I need to find a shorter method like that takes less time. So I do the same thing, like, if I'm out and I go five places in a day, I take all those receipts, add them up and divide it by the number of items, and that's the price I assign. Oh, good. I think as long as you're keeping track of what you're spending. It doesn't matter, like, if you're recording the exact amount it's it's still money you're spending right, investing in your business that will create profit later. So,

Unknown:

yeah, my son, who does the spreadsheets, he's always like, I don't think that's right, how you're doing that. I don't think you can count that as and I'm like, Well, yes, I so I said, the more I buy, the better, right? So because everything gets a but I did buy a pair of shoes the other day, and I spent $10 on them, which is a lot for me, and because I like to try to get things, and then they just sold for 45 but really, on my spreadsheet, it says I only paid $1.25 for them. So you know, my profit

Suzanne Wells:

looks really nice. Yeah, you're just, you're just averaging it out. And I think as long as you're keeping track of it, it makes it easier at tax time, and just you have those numbers. So I commend you for keeping track of it at all, okay? Because that is the number one thing people dislike about this business, or, you know, being an entrepreneur, is having to track all your numbers. Yeah? And you want to, because you want to get those deductions and, you know, those tax write offs, but it is, I, I don't like it because it is not an income producing activity. Yeah, and that's what I like to focus on, is getting the stuff to sell, getting it listed, all of that. Yeah, I've even cut back on things I sell that take a long time to package for shipping. I think, yeah, I sold my last big, fragile. Item yesterday. I'm not doing that anymore. I don't like it, yeah, I can think about is, oh, this is taking me 30 minutes. And I could, I could have listed five things in this time. Some people love it, so it's whatever works for you. But I kissed that big it was like a cool embroidery framed thing. And I kissed that Goodbye Yesterday it sold, and from now on, I'm only doing the the needlework pieces that are not framed, yes, so it's just faster and easier and they sell. So yeah, anyway,

Unknown:

I've gotten that way too. I'll look at something and I'm like, Oh, that's really nice, but I don't want to pack it and tape it and all of that. So another place I source, which I think I've heard you talk about, is online auctions as well. I've been into those a little bit because we're like, again, we've got kind of bigger cities above us and below us, north and south. Like we have several online auction places, which I think you have them shipped usually, I

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, I have bought. There's a lot of them in Indiana. I know for a fact that I lose out on the online bidding, like I have my my price I'll pay, because I'm having it shipped. And so if, if you can pick it up. I mean, I know I'm losing auctions to local people, yeah,

Unknown:

yeah. And I only do the ones that that I can go to. And I did try the shop goodwill one time, the website, yeah, a lot of purses, but the shipping was crazy on that. It wasn't worth it. I mean, I I've sold almost all of them, and I've made a profit on all of them, but I think I just tried it, and I thought I won't do that again. So

Suzanne Wells:

what I love about the online auctions is just looking through them, yeah, and the comfort of my home and bookmarking things, but like, I'll find one thing, and then I'll go to that catalog and start looking through it, and most of what I find is has terrible titles, like, couldn't find it if you searched for it. And I know I talk about this all the time, but it just makes me laugh, because I guess either the company or the person doing the auctions doesn't understand how important keywords are to your listing. And I bought some the other day, and it was like a drawer full of things. Or, you know, they're just so randomly, vaguely titled that that's where I'm finding good stuff is, because it's not, you know, sterling silver jewelry, or, you know, Queen embroidery, who? But all the stuff we look for, it's just some of them even say last of the Smith auction, last of the Reynolds estate sale, and they don't say anything about what the item is. So it's kind of a virtual treasure hunt. And then you zoom in on the pictures, and I always ask questions. I'm like, Hey, can you send another picture of this? Because I can't really see it is this measure, because some of them are good about putting a ruler and showing you them, but they are not. So it would be fun to have more to go local and pick up stuff, but I just don't have that many around me. They're all in other states, like your go to, if you don't mind sharing like your go to stuff to look for on those online auctions.

Unknown:

Yeah, I just kind of it just, I know, and listen to a lot of the people talk on your podcast, and they talk about how they kind of focus on one thing. I used to think I was going to focus on clothes. And that's, you know, what, I started off selling clothes for for people and everything. So I kind of tend to go towards the clothes like, they'll have just closet fulls, you know, and they'll put on some of the name brands, and a lot of them are vintage and things like, there's just a giant closet that is up for auction. It ends on Sunday. I mean, it's probably as big as, like, a spare bedroom, you know, and it's and the title says,

Suzanne Wells:

Everything in this closet, yes. Fisher, is it st, John, is it Walmart? There's nothing. You just gotta pictures.

Unknown:

And I thought there was, there were no bids on it so far, so I was looking at it. Now it's up to $180 so I probably won't pay that much. But then they have, like, a children's closet. Children's vintage closet, is what it says and and it has a lot of just, I looked up the name brands and on eBay, and a lot of them would sell. All really well. And then there was one that was a closet of ice skating costumes. Like, oh, nice stitch. And those are kind of interesting. So, yes, I think it just, I just go by the pictures, like, I know there's things I don't want. Like, I always get by the tools and and those sorts of things Christmas sometimes, because you can see like they have the the crystal, or they have the different ornaments. So sometimes I'll zoom it, but then a lot of times you get the all the stuff, the giant Christmas tree and all the lights and the stuff that you don't want. I did win a closet bid from one, and I went right to the goodwill, and I just made two pile stuff I'm going to take home, because stuff I just donated. So I'm kind of just all over, as far as what I look at, but probably mostly clothes, shoes, purses, those kind of things. So

Suzanne Wells:

okay, and are you a frequent flyer at the Goodwill bins?

Unknown:

I've only gone a few times because it is in Indianapolis, so that's about two and a half hours away from us. My son went to college even further south last year, so when we would go to visit him, I would stop at the bins. And so I think I've probably been there four times, and I do like it, but I don't know it's it, I wouldn't say I found anything fabulous there. So I don't know if I go to Indianapolis, I'll probably stop, but I wouldn't plan a trip to just go to the bins.

Suzanne Wells:

That one's pretty wild and busy, isn't it? There's actually three.

Unknown:

I think I've been to two of them, and one is definitely busier than the other, but and both, or all the times I went, they were just packed, like had tons of people there, so people that probably make a day out of it, and, and I think every time I went, I either had my husband with me or my kids, so I wasn't going to be staying a very long time. Like the first time we went, we were on the first rotation, and my daughter found a pair of underwear, and she said, I'm done. And so she went over and, you know, she's a teenager, she was like, she made it like time for us to leave. The whole time.

Suzanne Wells:

She's like, I'm going to the coffee shop next door. No, y'all are done. Well, um, do you want to talk about some of your sales? Okay,

Unknown:

sure. So I was telling a teacher today that I was going to do this today, and I said, Probably my my first big sale was I went to a church rummage sale last summer. They had everything sitting outside. It was mostly clothes, just tables of clothes. And actually, it wasn't a church, it was a nursing home, and it was super windy, it was cold, and I think they were ready to be done, and it was only Saturday morning. She said, we've got Walmart bags. Fill them up. Whatever you want to donate, is fine. So I was looking through clothes. I didn't see a whole lot, but I saw a Harley Davidson tag, and I was like, Oh, this will look interesting. So I pulled up these pink leather writing chaps. And it I thought, well, these are kind of interesting. And I always try to go for the unusual, or sometimes the ugly will sell wells. So I thought, well, these are unusual, pink leather writing chaps. So I went home, listed them. They were, I looked at comparables, and I listed them for $150 and sold them. So I thought, well, that was pretty good. So, so that was exciting. So yeah, and I just last weekend, went to a garage sale, and there was this giant book of scrapbooking stickers. I was telling my husband about this this morning. He was not impressed, but just jammed packed full of stickers. And I thought I like to go through things like that, and just like lot little things together. So there were with it was all organized by holiday and season, but there were all these Suzy zoo stickers, uh huh. So I just picked all those out. I probably ended up with 10 sheets of them, and I listed them on Tuesday, I think, for $20 a lot of like, and sold them like they didn't even send an offer anything. So I thought that was great. Um, so, and I thought, Who would buy stickers? But, yeah, they bought

Suzanne Wells:

some of the vintage ones. You know, these sticker collectors, I know that the Mrs. Grossmans sell very okay. And then, like, the wacky packs that were, you know, back in the 70s and 80s, I guess. And also anything that's like, scratch and sniff, oh yeah, I guess, I guess they're collectible because they were probably toxic back in the day when everything was toxic, yeah, yeah, yeah. Those, those can be pretty lucrative,

Unknown:

yeah. And I think I just, I, you know, listen to a lot of podcasts, watch a lot of videos, so and kind of noticing names. I know there was a I think it's the. And supreme. I wouldn't think anything of this supreme brand, but I was at a goodwill. They had a new cart of things they were going to put out, and there was this bright pink, like bubblegum pink sweatshirt supreme. And I said, I think that is really high end. So I bought it for $5 and I think I sold that for $80 so

Suzanne Wells:

it's what I'm thinking, that supreme stuff is it was like a social media thing where there was only limited numbers of things made, and so some of those sell for a lot of money, because it was kind of like a whatnot concept, where YouTubers would sell it on their live streams and stuff like that. And there's only limited numbers made for this very purpose of making it more valuable,

Unknown:

okay? And that's the kind of thing I like to find at the Goodwill or garage sales. And, like, they don't even know what they have, you know? I mean, they always mark up, like polo or or even like, oh, trying to think they mark up like Hollister, and it's like, I don't know. Like, I found a Tory Burch shirt and I thought they don't even know, you know what this is. Or, like, Cotopaxi, I wouldn't ever know Coda or Rei, like these brands that they're not real popular in Indiana, but probably more in like Utah, or, you know, out there Colorado, or Patagonia, that kind of stuff, you know. So those kind of things are just fun to find and, and I'm always, usually by myself thrift store, but I I look around like, oh my goodness, I just found this, and they don't know it's

Suzanne Wells:

it's anyone seeing this happen, you know, and really leave with this. But, like, back to garage sales, sometimes they just don't care. Yeah, they're moving next week, and they need to get this stuff out. They don't have to pack it and move it, or full with donating it, or whatever. So I've been in that position. It's just like, I need this gone and people can get a deal. Yeah, sold my house, like, 10 years ago. I had a lot of big furniture, and I was going to an apartment and couldn't take it. And I mean, well, I had this huge, like, corner desk with a hutch and cabinets, and there's just no way I was going to move that. So I think a lady bought it for $100 like, good. I've had it 10 years. You enjoy it, you take it apart, you get it out of here, yeah. But a lot of times it's just whoever's having the garage sale. Maybe they, maybe they know. Maybe they don't know how valuable something is, but it's the sense of urgency of, I gotta get rid of it, and Lucky you. It's your lucky day. Yeah, yeah. What's the most high dollar, most expensive thing that you've ever sold,

Unknown:

probably just clothing, kind of those different things that I found that have been some purses and some bags I've sold for quite a bit. I did buy some purses from a lady locally on marketplace and and sold some of those, like some coach, I can't remember. There's, like, a bag of Telly, I think it is, or, yeah, or some Kate spades. But I did have a couple of things, and I don't, I should probably investigate this more. This summer, I had a couple that were, you know, eBay took down because they said, I don't know if they thought it wasn't real or whatever. So I've got two things I probably just need to sell on Facebook marketplace, because I don't know how you do the authentic vacation, and I don't know that that's easy to do. So I'll probably it actually

Suzanne Wells:

is. I'll, I'll tell you in the list you go to authenticate.com Oh, now this is a third party. Some of this can be done on eBay. When you're listing the bag, if it's over a certain price point, they'll offer the authentication service. But authenticate first.com and you send pictures of what you have, and they tell you, and it's like $20 so it's a little bit of an investment. And even if it's not authentic, at least, you know, and you don't list it and get in trouble. So Right? It's an investment on those higher end, you know, Prada and Gucci and on and all those that are so often fakes. Not not to push you into doing it if you're not comfortable, but there are services, and then you get a certificate of authenticity. And I've done it a few times with sunglasses. Because those are faked a lot. Yeah, I put the COA in my listing, you know, and prove that it's authentic. If there's ever a question from the buyer or eBay, but it's, yeah, it's a little bit of an investment. And just for the listeners, please don't risk your account if you're not sure. And right, go by Facebook like, oh, do y'all think this is real? Because you don't get a COA, you don't get proof. And you know, that's eBay. The right way is right. I mean, the the authentic proof that your item is authentic. That's just going to save you in the future. So it's easier just to go on Facebook and go, Hey, do you think this is real? Here's a bunch of pictures and but if it comes down to it, and eBay pulls your listing or it gets reported, that person on Facebook who told you they're not going to come to your rescue, right? Right, yeah. So I feel you on that.

Unknown:

Yeah. I have been, I've sold, like, I've been going to the sleepwear section in the goodwill a lot lately, because I find that they put a lot of the wrong things there. Yes. So I've been actually selling a lot of, like, bras like that are like, are very expensive. And I'm sure you know people would you're looking to buy things, maybe pre owned or not used at all. Um, sometimes they'll have nice leggings and things in there. They're in the wrong section at the last goodwill. So I went to they had a whole bunch of bathing suits in the sleepwear section, and they were, some of them were new Nike, like swimming bathing suits with tags. So I sold quite a bit of those right away. Or, I think there were, like, some Athleta brand that were very new. So at first I thought, bathing suits, would those really sell? But they have and in bras. And I thought, but that really sound like anytime I put a sports bra on, it sells almost right away. So yeah, the

Suzanne Wells:

swimwear I've done like my entire eBay career, and that's one of my standard bread and butter item. In fact, I went to a goodwill near a lake a few weeks ago. Oh, yeah, all this brand new swimwear, I guess. You know, people buy extras or whatever, or they whatever clean out their closets. And, you know, Lands End, LL Bean speedo, those kind of brands, and they sell all year. Yeah, because you've got all this indoor aquatic stuff going on, and now it's more like physical therapy for like, you had a hip replacement or a knee replacement, and they partner with, like, the YMCA, or wherever there's an indoor pool to go do your physical therapy in the water. So it's not just aqua fitness. And going to the beach and going on cruises is huge. So yes, where, you know, you average person would be like, what? Mm, hmm, selling that. But even pre owned, just two tips for the listeners is check the seat of the bathing suit to make sure it's not all picked and peeled and, you know, turn it inside out if it's got any kind of shelf bra to make sure, like the underwire is not poking through or there's issues with that, and do the stretch test, yes, sure it's not dry rotted. Because if you stretch it and it, you hear, yes, it's just this crunchy sound. It's like, yeah, that's, you don't sell that. It's dry rotted, yeah,

Unknown:

yeah. And there are a lot like that, so yeah, if I go through and even sometimes just find tags, I'm like, I bet that would sell, like, because, you know, like, one, I don't usually sell Victoria's Secret, but there was a, just a Victoria's Secret bottom. And it was a size large, so a good size, and it still had the tags on it. I thought, wells. And it was a newer, like I did a Google lens, it was a newer model. I think I sold that right away for $20 so that would be, you know, cheaper for the person than to get it on the Victoria's web, secret website. So, yeah, so, and I thought,

Suzanne Wells:

you're right. The sleepwear section is kind of a catch all. If the way doesn't know where to put something, they just stick it in there. Yeah. And who was it? Was it? Lori, one of the lorries. Loris, can't remember who had the sort of Hugh Hefner smoking jacket type thing. Oh, yeah, yeah, that sold for like, $150 you know? And some of that, some of that stuff is, is high dollar and is overlooked, because you've got a lot of resellers that don't, don't even look. There. Like, yeah, where that's gross. I don't want to, I don't want to touch that stuff. But, yeah, some of the like, Nick and Nora patterned, yes, Christmas pajamas and the lance of Salzburg nightgowns and the canyon robes. You know what those are? It's like the thick terry cloth with designs on it. So like on the TV show The Nanny, she wore one. They called it the the wedding cake, because that's what it looked like. But it's very plush, and it, you know, might have a star and a moon on the back, and the company's Canyon, and those sell for over $100 and it just terry cloth bathrobe, funky design. So yeah, treasures, high sleepwear, if you're willing to look through it. Yes,

Unknown:

and I usually when I'm at the sleepwear, then the linens and and bedding and stuff, I look through that as well to just, I did find one time a Tommy Hilfiger denim pillowcase, and sold that for$35 I mean, just one pillowcase. And, yeah, and Tommy Hilfiger isn't, you know, that great of a selling name for me, clothes wise. But I thought, I'll try it, you know, a pillowcase, and it sold right away. It wasn't a pair of them or anything, just one, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

and a lot of those home goods, the bedding and the valances and tablecloths, they get worn out. They get ruined, you know, somebody spills red wine on your beautiful tablecloth. Yeah, I wouldn't even serve anything like that if it was gonna, you know, possibly be damaged but, but like the pillowcases, and they may just need another one, right, right? Dog chewed it up, or got put in the bleach load, or whatever, something happened to it, and they need another one. So don't be afraid to sell things that came in sets, but they're not in sets anymore. Yes,

Unknown:

yes. So I just sold some pottery, no Pier One, cloth napkins the other day. So it was a set of eight, which I thought was kind of weird. And we were talking about selling things breakable that you don't like to pack. You know, big things. I always see Fiesta where, when I'm out garage sailing, but it seems like there's a lot of Fiesta wear out there. So is it a garage sale last weekend, they had Fiesta wear flatware. They had like, eight black ones, eight blue ones and eight red ones. And I didn't know if I should list them all together, so I I listed them individually first, like the different sets, and I sold one set for 25 dot, 2499 which wasn't a lot, but I thought, well, there I can kind of try Fiestaware, but not the that silverware is easy to sell. So, I mean, I can just pack that up, but people buy silverware, but I can't read with my, you know, try to see all the print and all but Fiestaware. That seems like something I could, you know, that said right on there. So that was interesting to sell. So and that Fiesta

Suzanne Wells:

wear the dinnerware and the plates and the pieces, they're heavy,

Unknown:

yeah, yeah. This one garage sale they had, like, creamers and red I mean, they just had, like, all these unusual pieces, which probably would have been good, but like you, I didn't want to ship any of that stuff. So I used to pull the silverware. And

Suzanne Wells:

there's listeners out there, like, I love, he has to wear I love, that's wonderful. You guys can have that. Yes, I'll go over here to the stuff that's easier to ship. I've been considering the like, oddities, just weird stuff that, like, there's not going to be another one like this out there, and, yeah, photographs and drawings and stuff like that, that just, it's easy to ship and just no competition on it.

Unknown:

Yeah, that's true. And I know I didn't mention estate sales. I like to go to estate sales as well. And sometimes you can find those oddity type things at estate sales, you know, like, especially the second day. How much do you want for all these postcards? Because, you know, no one's going to buy these postcards, but they can be kind of fun to go through and group together. I've sold postcards before they I forgot where I got them, but sold group them together, like Florida, Washington, and sold quite a few. Some of them even had, like, notes on the back. They didn't care. They just wanted, or those kind that are, they're like, attached. They open up until, like, right, yes and yeah. They didn't care. A lot of them were brand new, so I was down to just a few, and I took them down because I thought, Alright, I've sold all of them that I want to sell of those, but made my money so

Suzanne Wells:

well. And I think there's people that for home decor type stuff, they follow the certain esthetic, like the farmhouse. Rustic, but within that, they want unusual things to be more individual. So I sold this drawing of an Alice Chalmers. It's like a tractor company. It's was and it was a drawing from 1949 out of this artist sketchbook, and I sold it for 50 bucks, and it was just unusual, like, I can see this with the rustic farmhouse esthetic, or a man cave, or somebody who had that tractor. And so you've got people that like, follow the esthetic, and then you've got people that totally do not and they're like, the the Bohemians that just everything is wild and crazy. And I'm sort of gravitated more towards that of, like, accommodating the people that want all these individualized things, like they'll have guests over and, oh, I've never seen anything like that. You know, that's the kind of stuff I'm looking for now, is conversation pieces, and they're just fun to sell. Yeah, yeah. You have to have your bread and butter stuff too, your swimsuits and your shoes, clothing and all. But that's what I look for on these online auctions. Are just the like, Wow, I've never seen anything like that. Oh, and you know what I saw the other day? I don't know if you heard the podcast with Zach the garbage man philosopher, I think so, because I look he's been on a couple times, but, and I don't know if you talked about this in the podcast, or it was on the group, but it was something called circus punks and, or they're also called carnival knockdown dolls. And it's, it's, they look like a giant, I don't know, weevil. And it was back in the day, like in the 50s, where it was the thing you would throw the ball at and try to knock them down, and then they would pop back up so the bottom, and they're all these freaky looking facial expressions. Are like clowns, but they're called circus punks, and I think he got them from somebody on his garbage route that was throwing them away, and he made hundreds of dollars on these things, and that was several years ago, we talked about, lo and behold, there it was on an online auction. Know what that is, but it went up way high on the auction, and it was like, too rich for my blood. It's probably somebody local that was going to go pick it up. But it's crazy. What you what you hear and see in your eBay journey, and then, like, one day, there it is. And yes, how many people even know what this is?

Unknown:

Right? Right? And that's what I think, what I find, like, those things that the goodwill, and I look around like, oh my goodness, does anybody else see this? I mean, do you know what this what this is, and it's kind of, I've heard about this, but I've never seen it myself, so that's good to hear from you guys. And in you know what to look out for? Because then when you really see it, a lot of the I would have looked over that pink sweatshirt, I mean, I wouldn't have thought anything of it, you know. So it's good to kind of just hear and and then again, I suppose some people are really watching those auction sites that know more than me, and you get so excited because, oh, it's only bid at $5 and then probably, like the ones you follow, you go to it, and they just start bidding like crazy. And they're probably smart not to bid early on. But I always get my hopes up, like I'm the only one that knows what's really in this and then, and then you, you watch it live, and it goes up to $150 and right, that brave yet to go that high. So well,

Suzanne Wells:

it depends on what it is. And I'm I put my bid in, like, three hours before it ends, and I've got a spreadsheet where I figured out cost, plus the buyer's premium, plus what I estimate the shipping to be, and like, Okay, this is my maximum bid, and I just put them in, and then get the email if I want, because

Unknown:

you don't watch it, you just put your mail, because I'm not going to go any higher. Yeah, that's probably a good strategy,

Suzanne Wells:

because set my boundary of how high I'll go and then there. I just don't want, it's too nerve wracking. Like, yeah, I didn't win that one. Oh, but I won these things. So I always something, but it's, yeah, I always

Unknown:

tell myself, Okay, I'm only going to spend 20 Okay, I'm going to bid one more time. I'm going to bid one

Suzanne Wells:

more time. One more dollar. One more dollar. Well,

Unknown:

that is a good idea to put your maximum in, and then just don't watch it. So, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

it's very mathematic, because, like, I have certain thresholds, like, if it will sell for $100 on eBay, you know, I'll pay x over here, but then I've got to remember to add the buyer's premium. And I know what companies are more fair shippers, I'm getting better. Identifying that if they ever outsource it to a third party, I'm not bidding because just like the UPS store is highway robbery, if any of them use the UPS store or that go and postal store, they check the price up so high it's just wrong. So I look for the in house shippers because they're more fair.

Unknown:

Yeah, so anyway,

Suzanne Wells:

well, we've had all kinds of topics for discussion today. What do you have any final words since you're kind of a newer seller that you'd like to pass on to everybody?

Unknown:

Um, I think probably, as we've probably said, if, even if, something is great, but you know, it's not going to be fun to ship. I usually try to pass on it. Maybe also, if somebody is just thinking about getting started, just try it. You're not going to know everything right away. You'll make mistakes. I know I've made mistakes on some things with some returns or that, and you feel like, oh, man, but you learn from it. And I think one thing also I've learned is, if you're not excited about something when you buy it, but it's just a good deal, maybe don't buy it because it's not going to be fun to listen. I just keep adding some things to my death pile, like, Oh, I'll list that tomorrow. I'll list that tomorrow. And and then you finally list it, and sometimes you sell it right away, but it's not enjoyable, so you might as well just leave that go as well. And, and I feel like I could go sourcing every day, and I'm not really a big shopper, so I I know I probably drive my family nuts, but if I'm going to go to the next town over to pick up groceries, and there's a garage sale I'm probably going to stop because you just have that idea of, I just don't want to miss anything. But there's always going to be more out there, and there's

Suzanne Wells:

you just have to tell your family when they give you a hard time. Say it's genetic. I'm channeling my inner hunter gatherer. That's right. I have to do this because it's part of the human experience to hunt and gather just doing it a different way.

Unknown:

Yeah, I know, because it is. And I know, like, I'm super excited about Monday, the 50% off day, but I know my family does not care. I'm like, That's so fun, isn't it? And they're like, I think, yes,

Suzanne Wells:

you need to join the we do not care club. Yes, have you seen that lady on Facebook? No, she's this lady. She's like, perimenopause, menopausal, and she just started this club called the we do not care club, because when you get up that age, you just really start not caring. So it's just hilarious. Look her up, and she's just so funny. And then in the comments, everybody puts in what they don't care about today, like I wore my pajamas all day and they didn't even match. And I'll have to have the I don't care what you think attitude, because that's right. This is our business, and we get to run it however we

Unknown:

want. That's right, that's right. It is fun. It's super fun. So now that

Suzanne Wells:

you are off from your job for a little while, when is your next treasure hunting adventure going to happen?

Unknown:

Well, tomorrow, I do have to go pick up my groceries, and I'm sure there will be some garage sales I'll have to stop at. And then Monday is holiday for us, so we have our good 50% off sale, and I've already found a few rummage sales going on in in a bigger city in a couple weeks. I'll make sure I go to those. And then this online auction is ending on Sunday, so it could work out perfectly. I could go pick up the items when I go to the goodwill sale on Monday. So I'm hoping i i win some things there. So

Suzanne Wells:

you gotta, you've got an extensive plan I do

Unknown:

break so I'm ready. And I have about, I only have about 20 things downstairs that are that need to be photographed. So I'm right. So I told my family. I mean, I have to go sourcing because I'm down to very little. I hardly have a death pile right now. So like you said, it's summer, so I want to try to build that pile up a little bit so I can get through. I mean, I'll try to do it all. My goal is to have 1000 things in my store. I was close to 700 over spring break, and then school got crazy, so I'm at like 650 right now. So try to get up there. Not that it even matters if you have that much, but just, I don't know, it is

Suzanne Wells:

a goal to work towards So, yeah, well, thanks again for reaching out to come on Pleasure to meet you and wish you all the best with your future eBaying. Yeah, thank you. Okay, bye, bye. Next week, my guest is Lisa in. The Pacific Northwest. So make sure you tune in same bat time, same bat channel. Thank you all so much for listening and supporting this podcast and being part of this eBay community. I hope you have a fantastic week on eBay. Bye, everybody. You.