eBay the Right Way

eBay Seller Chat with Candice in Illinois: Extreme Couponer, Clearance Shopper, All Around Deal Queen 👑

• Suzanne A. Wells • Episode 224

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Suzanne Wells:

Hi, eBay sellers, you have landed on episode 224 of eBay the right way. Today's date is July 2. 2025 my guest is Candace in Illinois. No announcements today, so we will get started. Hello listeners out there in podcast land, I have the illustrious Candice with us today, and Candice might be my number one commenter on my Facebook business page and the group, and she's just very active, so I wanted to get her on here and talk about eBay. So how are you doing

Unknown:

this morning? I'm doing great. Suzanne, how are you

Suzanne Wells:

I'm wonderful. We had a little technical issue, but we work through it because we are both very smart women, and we figured it out.

Unknown:

Sure did. And

Suzanne Wells:

tell us where you are located.

Unknown:

So I am in Illinois. I am in a suburb that's about 30 miles south of downtown

Suzanne Wells:

Chicago. Okay, lots of Chicagoans in the Do you ever run into George Kelly or Allie house

Unknown:

or no, but there is somebody like 30 minutes away in one of the western suburbs. I mentioned to her I might have to hang out one time. Okay,

Suzanne Wells:

that sounds good. Yeah, there's plenty for everybody out there. Yeah. So let's start off with when you started on eBay and what brought you to the reselling world.

Unknown:

Okay, so I had an eBay account since 2018 but I didn't do any selling, and I really didn't do any buying. I just, I was in a small business Facebook group, side hustle, if you will. Because I've done several side hustles over the years, but I just never dove in. And so of course, when the pandemic struck, like a lot of people, I was at home, and I was like, Oh, well, let me give this thing a whirl, and that's how I got started. Now, do you work a full time job? I do. Mm, hmm. So it's part time for me. Okay,

Suzanne Wells:

so what is your, let's say regular job.

Unknown:

So my regular job is, I am a receptionist at a large corporation.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, so you deal with lots of people every day, yes,

Unknown:

and this is a new job. I actually left the hotel industry of 15 years, and so I make my one year at my new job next week.

Suzanne Wells:

Congratulations. Good. Thank you. So that's wonderful, because those customer service skills flow over into your eBay work. Yeah, absolutely, very good, very good. Okay, so what were some of the like the first things that you sold, because you do it a little different than than, like the average picker

Unknown:

I do. So I started out I do a lot of coupon and I'm what you would call, probably an extreme couponer. Oh, okay, and clearance shopper. So actually, my first item that I ever sold on eBay was in 2020 and it was a skein of yarn, and I got it on clearance at Michaels. If people are familiar with Michaels, they have clearances, but they also do, like at that time, it was the $5 grab bag. Now they've gone up to $10 so in a $5 grab bag, it was actually a big box, and it had a lot of yarn, so I just sold one yarn. I put it up there. Didn't even think I was gonna sell it, and then it sold, and I was bitten.

Suzanne Wells:

Oh, good, okay. Commented on some things in her background. It was a bunch of cleaning supplies. And then you, you moved your camera and showed me even more things. So you do the couponing and get stuff for cheap or free, and then sell the just like household products. What Kind Of Products Do you sell?

Unknown:

So laundry, detergent, cleaning products, like deodorant, almost anything you would use in your home, not cleaning and personal care, toothpaste, all of that. And I sell some of that on eBay, but mostly I sell it in my other store.

Suzanne Wells:

And so what is your other store? Where is

Unknown:

that? So there is a local person here in Chicago who created an app. And I use his app as my storefront. Oh, okay, okay, yeah, it's really interesting.

Suzanne Wells:

And so it sounds similar to the grocery business I did way back, like, 2010 maybe I did a lot of that, you know, getting things on, buy one, get one free, and stack in the coupons and the discounts, and you can really rack up some good products. Yeah, when you're doing it on eBay, are you working with the lighter weight products, like you're not shipping big thing?

Unknown:

No, of detergent. Oh, no, no, no. I typically don't do the laundry detergent on if I do, it would be like the pod, so they're lighter weight, yeah, but mostly so razors I've done on eBay, deodorant, toothpaste, shaving cream, lightweight items, but I do source. Let's see from your being on your group. I started two years ago doing estate sales. So I'm excited about, oh, good, yes. And I listened to the podcast of the person who, who was, whoever was on there that does estate sales. You had some person that does it a

Suzanne Wells:

lot. Had a special edition with five people that, yeah, we're very good at it at the time. So yeah, was, of course, George Kelly and Suzanne keen. And I'll put that in at the end. I'll link to that episode because they all gave us their best tips, yes,

Unknown:

and I use some of them also. I do go to garage sales, and then I do a very small amount of consignment. I have a couple of clients, and they're not regulars. Every so often I get some items from them.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, well, one thing that struck me when you were posting things on the I think it was a money making Mondays. You sold a, like, a frying pan that you said you got for a penny.

Unknown:

That's correct. So I was like, What? What? She

Suzanne Wells:

getting stuff for a penny? Do you want to share that a business if you don't, if it's going to create competition? Oh, it

Unknown:

doesn't. It doesn't. I did notice a lot of people commenting on so a lot of people don't know. A lot of retail stores, when they clearance things out to the bottom, clearance, the items will go to a penny, but Dollar General is where I got the got the items from. They it's in their policy that they can sell it to you if you find it in the store. So it goes like this, they get the list. Employees get the list on a Friday, and they're instructed to pull all those items. So the clearing cycle goes 50% 70% 90% and then the following week, after 90% most, most of those items that are in whatever that group is, will turn to a penny if the employees don't remove all of the items and the shopper finds it, they can buy it for a penny.

Suzanne Wells:

So it's a high level treasure hunt.

Unknown:

It is, and a lot of people do it, but it's it's a lot of hard work, once you learn how to do it. I started doing it in 2018 so I'm a pro, and I can spot the stuff. And you know how people access what's going to be a penny is that certain employees leak the list to

Suzanne Wells:

people influence insider information,

Unknown:

insider information, and then those influencers put that out on their YouTube or their private Facebook group, and that's how you know. But if you just follow the clearance cycle, you can figure out what might be a penny. And so now lows has Penny items Home Depot, Target, I actually found them in target, but none of those stores allow you to buy the items. They'll just take them if you bring them up to the register. Unfair. It's not policy,

Suzanne Wells:

it's not marked. You just have to have access to these lists and be on top of it? And who was it? Deborah commented on that thread that there's a list you can print out, and the policy you can print out and you can get with you when you go in the store, and if you find the penny items, and they refuse to sell them to you. You pull that policy out and say, well, it says, right here, you have to sell it to me and yada yada yada. But yeah, I can see now here's the question. Is, the items are a penny, and you find them and they won't sell them to you. What do they do with them?

Unknown:

So it varies. Some stores will send them back to their corporate office. Some stores ship them out to other stores, so they end up in places like Ollie's or Dollar Tree or like that. Some stores actually dump them. There's people that do the dumpster diving for the pennies that the stores get rid of.

Suzanne Wells:

I can see that I can. See that. And here's the thing about Dollar General, specifically, everyone I've ever been in is like all the aisles are clogged up with boxes, and it's just it's hard to maneuver, like you can't even get a cart through. It's everything's blocked. So obviously they are short on employees, or they have too much merchandise to handle. So I can see that those items don't get pulled. Either there's not enough employees or they're just focused on putting the new stuff out.

Unknown:

That's correct. I'll say I was going to circle back to that, the comment that the person made. So I typically a lot of one of the other problems is with their employees. They're not trained on the policy, so if they refuse it, I usually just let it go. I don't bring up only if it's something I really, really want, or something that's really valuable. And I'll be like, oh, and then they'll call and ask, and then they'll usually give it to me, but I shop the same stores in like, the five surrounding neighborhoods by me. They all know me, and so they don't give me a problem

Suzanne Wells:

well, and I don't think they would be wise to give you a problem, because you're gonna get get. What kinds of things have you actually been able to purchase for a penny,

Unknown:

um, anything from houseware. Oh, I'll show you right quick. So these throws, uh huh, about 20 of these throws for a penny. I gave them out, actually, as gifts to people. That's wonderful. Um, I've gotten houseware items like baskets, and there's like, whole sections of the store that will Penny after a time, and then I get stuff like the frying pan, oh, one of the top things that i i is popular that I've sold on eBay. I don't know, you know, those snow glasses. They're called Battle vision. They're like, these glasses that you wear for outdoor sports. Those are

Suzanne Wells:

living in the South, anything to do with snow, I probably do not, but you may have seen it. They're not goggles. They're actually glasses.

Unknown:

They're, they're, they look like goggles, but they have protection, like if you're out in the snow with the sun blaring. Okay, so to me, it reminds me of like a blue blocker. Okay, and so I, I've gotten those for a penny, and they sell pretty good for about$25 or so.

Suzanne Wells:

That's an amazing flip. I mean, this is really a smart thing to do. It just takes some time to figure out the system that's true now, you know, because you're a frequent Dollar General customer, and you probably go to the same ones like, you know what's been there the longest? Yeah, and you're just waiting for that to be go on a penny,

Unknown:

yes. And then sometimes they're surprise pennies like that the stores don't even know about. But these influencers, they go in and they literally scan different things. And so I've gotten some good stuff that way too, but also a lot of things I coupon for that I get for free because of coupons and then rebate apps. So like razors, there was a time where I would give razors for free because with the coupons, and then I turn around and get a rebate from I bought, and I bought as a cash rebate, so my cost is zero.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, we talked about this, if I would be exposing your secret sourcing methods, and you agreed that it's really not a secret, because people on YouTube are talking about it. There's groups about it. It's doing the work which it is, the core of any business model. You have to do the work. You have to figure it out. You got to be there at the right time and be at the right place and know what the policy is. I did a grocery business on Amazon and on eBay for for years, I had a eBay UK store where I sold all kinds of easily shippable products, makeup, health and beauty, home products, all of that. I did the same thing. It was couponing to get them as cheap as I could. And we lived in a subdivision at the time, and we had the Atlanta Journal newspaper on Thursdays, they had a food section, so everybody got that, whether you subscribed or not. So what I would do was that came on Thursdays, Thursdays after dark, I would walk around the neighborhood and pick up all these sale flyers because they had the coupons in them, like I knew, Okay, these people, they never pick up this paper, or this house is for sale. There's nobody living there. And so I would come back with, you know, 15 of these papers with all the coupons in them, and figure out, you know, air fresheners were a good one. Sometimes they were. Buy one, get one free. The Pet Products, where it was like, $4 off this pet brush or whatever. And I built my business around that. Around I wasn't an extreme couponer. I did it more for things to sell than, like, stockpiling my house. But, you know, I had to come up with a system. So that's where we lose people. Is the work that has to be done to acquire these products at such a low cost. Not that they can't figure it out, but it takes some time.

Unknown:

It does, and that's how I get some of my customers. They are like, Oh, I would like to learn how to do that actually, was in Dollar General yesterday, because they had a clearance event, and I bought some things with coupons, and I found some Penny and the lady in back of me, she was like, how do you pay$4 for all this stuff? I'm like, well, and so I said, join my couponing group. I just like, I've been wanting to learn for years. So that is right. People don't want to learn. It's a lot of work. I mean, I in my other job, I would go out at my 15 minute break my lunch period sometimes to get these deals, because if you're in an area with a lot of couponers, you gotta beat them to the items.

Suzanne Wells:

So you have a group where people can pay to learn how to do this. No,

Unknown:

no, I don't charge. I just have a coupon and Facebook group. I go live in the stores when I'm doing deals and I have, like, small little classes, but I don't, I don't charge. I

Suzanne Wells:

don't think it's that people don't want to learn. I think they start and they're just overwhelmed, and it's this. They're like, Yeah, this is too much to figure out. That's That's my older sister. She's very smart. She's good at figuring things out. But this just did not, this just did not light her fire. And she's like, Oh, are you doing that thing where you go around the stores and buy stuff to sell? And I'm like, Yeah, I'm doing that thing today. It's true. No, she'll call and say, well, is the store open? And I'm like, it's always open 24 hours, anytime, anybody can buy anything, anytime it never closes. And she just can't grasp that, because, like, we do it all the time, like you said, it's a way of life. You've got 15 minutes. I'm going to run in here see what I can find, you know, and it's and we're drawn to it, and it's exciting to us, and that's why it works for some people, and then other people are like, yeah, that's that's just too overwhelming. I'm not going to do

Unknown:

that. Yeah, that's true. I laugh about you mention all the time. People are always so confused when you're selling on eBay and they're like, oh, that's real, or, Oh, you actually make money. And, you know, once I did it, once I was hooked, I couldn't stop. And in 2020, was so prosperous, I couldn't believe some of the stuff with that was selling, and I was new, and I worked it out. I didn't know how to do anything. I did everything by trial and error. And people say it's too intimidating, but I feel like it was easy for me, because that was the first platform I started

Suzanne Wells:

on, okay, well, what kind of things were super sellers for you? 2020,

Unknown:

all those personal care items. And then at the holiday time, another Michaels $5 haul. At that time, the sweaters were really popular, the Christmas sweaters. So in one of those $5 bags, I had like six holiday you know, people still did the ugly Christmas sweater. So I sold about five of those ugly Christmas sweaters for like 30 bucks a piece.

Suzanne Wells:

Oh yeah, those are great. And they sell all year. They do a was a vintage McDonald's sweatshirt. I sold it last week. So we're recording this in June, and it was, it said, Happy Holidays, and it had, like, the multi color string lights around it, you know, it didn't light up or anything. But based on where it was made, it was definitely vintage. It sold for, I think,$25 I paid $3 for it at Goodwill, and I had just looked at it the day before. I'm like, is anyone gonna buy this? I've been through one Christmas season nobody wanted it, and it was that eBay voodoo when you when you touch something, or look at it, or think about it, all of a sudden it sells.

Unknown:

I'm glad you brought that up, because I was going to comment on that one one day you were saying that to somebody on the podcast, and, like, a couple days later, I was going through my image, I was like, I'm about to get rid of some of the stuff that I that hasn't sold. And one of those items I literally was about to unlisted that day, and it's sold. I

Suzanne Wells:

know that happens. It is so did you sell any toilet paper during 2020?

Unknown:

I sold very little.

Suzanne Wells:

Yeah, that was kind of a tricky product line, like how much to charge, and I had some cash more sweat. Dollars for sale, and they were two ply. And, you know, that's thicker. And those, those listings got taken down because it had the words two ply, and it search solid as toilet paper.

Unknown:

Well, so many people were jacking the prices up. I would look up things, and people would be charging $200 buying toothpaste and stuff you couldn't get in the store. I went out in the stores because nobody was in there.

Suzanne Wells:

I know I did too well. Our thrift stores didn't close in Georgia. You could go. So I just put on a mask, and I'm like, well, maybe this is good time to pick items because there's hardly anybody in there. But you know, the workers are in there getting paid to work, so I just pushed on through and you gotta do what you gotta do. That's how I earn my living. That's true. Yeah. Well, tell us a little bit about estate sales and some things that you've learned, I guess, from listening to the podcast or in the group, because a lot of people, they're intimidated by estate sales because they don't know how to do them.

Unknown:

I was and I didn't know, but because I have so much experience clearing shopping and going through racks, I felt like that would help me. So I went to my first one couple years ago, and it was in the winter time. There's not a lot in the winter, and I think this was before I heard the podcast, but I just looked around for things that I was familiar with. Now, one thing I didn't do, and I still don't do, is a lot of people like to go on the first day, as soon as they open. I don't like that because, number one, I don't want to sign up on a list and stand in line,

Suzanne Wells:

right? Well, I mean, you got a full time job, so I

Unknown:

do, but I am off on weekends, and usually, yeah, and so with being off on weekends, a lot of them start on Friday, I like going the second day and the third day if there's a third, because that's always half off. And of course, because I'm a bargain shopper, I want to go when there's a bargain right now there are a couple that I did go to on the first day when they open, and I did the whole line, but it was because I was after something specific. And I noticed on the second and third day with discounts, sometimes there's even more discount than 50% I was at one and this is a large one. This estate sale company is here. They're also in Florida, and they have a warehouse. So I went to one, and they had just everything in the garage was like 90% off. So that was exciting. And then the last day, I went to another one, and the Last Day, when it was getting near closing, they were just like, fill a bag. And those are the best.

Suzanne Wells:

Oh, yeah, good for you, yeah, because you don't have many going on in the cold months up there

Unknown:

in Chicago, not many, but a few. And I like to go to those again, because there's not a lot of people coming out in the weather. So you might find some scores. Yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

good for you now. So you do have an eBay store, yes, and how many items, or how many listings Do you have? Um, I have a little

Unknown:

less than 100 now, I don't the biggest I've ever had. It was like 200 I have a small I'm in a one bedroom, so I have very limited storage space. So this area here is my dining area. That's half my inventory. And then in my bedroom, I have another large rack, like in here, so I keep it small.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, I have a like a dining room table. It's very nice, but it has never been used as a dining room table. It's my workspace. I'm in an apartment too, and you know, that's my shipping center. That's where I can take pictures of some things, depending on what they are. And I was thinking the other day, I'm like, this is I've never eaten at this table. Everything eBay worthy. Oh, like, I do a little something in every room. You know, some rooms are for storage. Some spaces are for taking pictures. You know, shipping is, is I've got it down where I do mostly small items, so I don't need a whole giant shipping area, but I've got my shipping supplies in those cube storage things. Oh, yeah, shelf with the fabric cubes. And that works really well. And you wouldn't know, like, you can't see what's in there. So okay, people come over. They're like, I thought you sold on eBay. Where's all your stuff? And I'm like, Oh, it's here. You just can't see it.

Unknown:

Oh, I wish I had enough space to say that people see everything, but I have a small I'm actually I don't use my dining room table. I'm sitting at it now, but behind me this whole wall, I have a shelving unit that's across this whole wall, and my little shipping station is right behind me. It's just a little Yeah, stand that I found at a garage sale. I.

Suzanne Wells:

Good for you. Okay, well, do you want to talk about some things that you've sold over the sure memorable? You learn something or they're unusual?

Unknown:

It's up to you. Yes. Okay, so being in the hotel business, there's lots of Lost and Found, and so we, I've worked for a couple different hotels, so at one hotel, so we would store the items, and for one while, we would contact the people, if we had contact information, hey, you left this behind. Do you want it back? And sometimes they would say Yeah. Sometimes they would say no, depending on what it was, because, you know, they would have to pay for shipping. And then so we would hold items like three months, if it was valuable, six months to a year. And then after that time, we would donate the items to like the one of us. Sometimes I would take it to like a local thrift store. But we also could pick from the items if nobody want, or if they said, No, just keep it. And so one of those items was a Gucci, like baseball style cap, uh huh. And I was able to get that, and I sold that for$225

Suzanne Wells:

oh my gosh, that is for

Unknown:

you. Yeah. What else so I did. I've heard a couple people say that they've gone to the restore sale. Yes, the restore store. I have one new one that they built, this like 10 minutes from me. The other one was farther away. So I have sold a shower head that I got there in a they had, this was a grand opening. So they were like, throw everything in a bag for $5 so I had like 10 items in there, and that shower head, probably with all items in the bag, cost me $1 I sold that for like $40 good. And then so I had another large set skeins of yarn. And I'm not familiar with yarn, but it was like 10 huge skeins of yarn. I sold that for like $100 and that was in one of those $5 grab boxes for micros, yeah, yeah, and so also with the store clearances. So my sister is also a super coupon, and she gives me items to sell. So she had given me, you know, those Jitterbug phones that they have for seniors. Oh, yes, she got two of those from a CVS clearance. She probably paid like $2.50 and I sold both of those for like $30 each. And was that recently, this was last year.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay, well, that's pretty recent. And so about those phones tech, people might say, nobody's gonna want that. And I tell you what, my dad, who passed this year, he was 87 and his wife, 86 they have iPhones, and they should not. They just get into trouble. They get into like a cat and a ball of yarn. They just like, how did this get on my phone? What is this? And what do I push to do this? And just the Betty, basic Jitterbug phone. I don't even know what it does. I guess it just makes phone calls.

Unknown:

It just makes calls and simple texts. And that that is a lot of the senior community. Now, some seniors are savvy, but yes, that's what that's who bought them. And one person thanked me they had gotten it for a parent, and it was a good deal for

Suzanne Wells:

them. I feel like they can't get into as much trouble if the phone doesn't have internet on it, because that's true. One of the problems we ran into was both of them kind of had some dementia going on. And you know, they would answer anybody who called. They would answer if it was a spam call, and they couldn't differentiate if they were being pulled into a scam or not. They're just friendly, and they're just talking to people. They go on the internet and they buy something, and then they don't remember they bought it. And so you want them to be able to communicate and have a phone, but you want to protect them against all the things out there that can take advantage of seniors or just the the technology they don't need.

Unknown:

Absolutely. One thing I like about the iPhone is you can block those unknown callers,

Suzanne Wells:

yeah, but they just keep getting new numbers. Oh, my goodness, that's what happens to me. Is, is, I'll get, you know, the calls the scam now, is, you owe money for the toll on the highway. Oh, yeah. And, like, I've never even been to this place where they're saying I owe money. And wow, that's the scam right now, but,

Unknown:

yeah, I've gotten that text. But I like the iPhone, because you don't get the calls, they go straight to voicemail, right? So you can't answer them.

Suzanne Wells:

So just for the listeners, the Betty, basic, simple Jitterbug, I don't know other ones too, that don't have the internet. They're just a mobile phone. You. Can be good in some situations. That's true. So how much did she sell those? Or did you sell those for about$30 okay? I mean, that's a good flip for something, yeah, dollars,

Unknown:

Oh, yeah. Then, uh, from the Ross. Everybody, and a lot of people know about the Ross after the holidays, the 49 they call it the 49 cent sale. And people are inexperienced, saying everything is 49 cents. It is not

Suzanne Wells:

Ross store, like TJ Maxx,

Unknown:

that kind of, yes, okay, yes. So Ross, so in about the beginning of February, I think it is they start, have they clearance out all the holiday items. But there's more than just Christmas stuff. There's like, regular items too, and you can find a lot of stuff for 49 cents, which I have in the past. I've sold some big decorative pick pillows that were for football teams. I sold one for the Dallas Cowboys. I sold those for like, $30 it was a set of two that I got for 49 cents at Ross uh, last year my sister, she went and she found two sets, two pairs of Michael Kors. They're like a riding boot. She paid like $3 for em. She gave them to me. I have one pair left that I have to put up. I sold the other pair for $77 Excellent. Yes. What else so at we have a local thrift store that donates to a local charity, uh huh and everything is 50% every day I've bought a pair of Remington tight pearls. Oh, you for $5 Yes, I was so excited. Paid $5 for him, sold them for$72

Suzanne Wells:

good for you and for the listeners there the blue curlers. Do you know why they're valuable? I don't, but I heard

Unknown:

that a lot of pageant people, yes, do the curl okay,

Suzanne Wells:

it's the pageants and the cheerleading. Mm, hmm. And the reason they like them is now, these have been around 20 years. Oh, wow. They have a wax core that gets than any other type of curler. And they make the ringlets that the

Unknown:

pageant I've seen, I did heat them up so I could take my picture and say, show that they were you, and they they were hot

Suzanne Wells:

Well, and that's why, you know, people see that. I think that's in my first bolo book is the the Remington tight curls. And so people see that, and I think, oh, vintage curlers, just any of them. And so, no, that's not the case. Blue ones have that wax core. They don't make them anymore. And you can even just sell the the clips. You can curlers, if you don't have the unit, you anything that has to do with those will sell.

Unknown:

And I sold another. I had another hot roller set. I didn't sell the set. I just sold the curlers. It wasn't, I don't think it would maybe it was clear off. They sold for like, 15 bucks. It was like, 10 of those curlers,

Suzanne Wells:

okay? And then the flocked, like the

Unknown:

fuzzy ones, no, no. They were similar to the tight curls they have, like a circle at the top and the bottom. Okay, what brand is, but those, it was like a lot of 10 of them. I saw them, yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

some of them will, they'll sell. It's just the the highlights after, oh, yeah, of hair curlers. Are those blue? I

Unknown:

couldn't believe when I walked in.

Suzanne Wells:

I know what that happens. I know that thing

Unknown:

and then, or this week I saw, now, I'm bad about listing stuff right away. So I had had these. I think I saw, I think I put it up on Monday. It was the one of those curl on the one side is the brush. The other is the curling iron in styler, rotating curl. Oh, the installer, okay, yeah, so I'd had it. I got it at a garage sale. I convinced the lady, because I knew what that was. I was like, I think she had 10 bucks on and she ended up letting me pay six for it. And I sold it for $22 they can sell for like, 30 or more. And I had it, had the case, the instructions, and all of that. Well, that's great. And now, I mean, it's sold in literally, 24 hours, and I had had it for like, over a month, and never listed it. List your stuff. Well,

Suzanne Wells:

that's not bad that you only had it a month. I see on the group all the time. Yeah, this has been in my my pile for three years, and I finally listed it and it's sold in two days.

Unknown:

Well, I have one of those, or it's not that bad. So I've had for almost a year a queen comforter set. It is cross Hill. I'm just. Trying to figure out, I was trying to figure out, maybe you can give me some advice on how to do the pictures like I feel like, because it's got a lot of stuff with it's got decorative pillows, it's got Shams, it's got all that I was like. So I guess one of the reasons I put it off is I'm not quite sure how to photograph it. Some people photograph it on a bed, on a on, is it brand new? No, no, it's, it's used,

Suzanne Wells:

okay? Well, I actually do things like that on a bed, and then I do the background removal. Okay, you know, it's okay. If it's not, you know, the room's not completely like a photo. Oh, yeah, okay, yeah. Or some people just do it folded up. They

Unknown:

do. I thought about doing it fold up and putting the the all the other accessories, all over. There's a lot of accessories. There's like a long pillow. There's like, square pillows. I have the whole thing I got. That's my goal, to get it up this weekend. Do you know how

Suzanne Wells:

to do a collage? Oh yeah. So that's what I do on things that has a lot of parts, is or like a grouping, like the dollhouse furniture. So I just, I took all the pictures, and then I made a collage for the gallery photo that shows everything, because it's, sometimes it's hard to stage those pictures because so you can, you can make a collage with everything. Do your your individual.

Unknown:

Oh, that's smart. I'm going to do just that. Thank you. Okay, that is amazing. I had a couple more. So I had this was from Goodwill. If you've heard of Herschel supply, I don't know. Maybe I have they make backpacks and different things. So I got this laptop sleeve for $2 I sold that for 25 good this is another coupon, and one. I had some Nexus shampoo and conditioner that I got for free with couponing, and I sold that set for $16 that stuff's not cheap. That's like, yeah, yeah. But CVS, they have good sales, and they have they, every once a while, they have a $10 off two coupon, and if there's a rebate, you can go to get good deal. Now my daughter, she brings me things too. She shops at that Amazon return store. We have one in our area,

Suzanne Wells:

okay, is it just called Amazon returns?

Unknown:

No, they make up their own name because it is

Suzanne Wells:

like that here, and the names, it's like, it's just a one location with that name, but that's what's in there. Is that's

Unknown:

what's in there. I forgot what ours is called, but, yeah, they make up their own names. Um, she brought me this golf club head cover. It's Happy Gilmore, and she paid like, $2 and I sold that for $22

Suzanne Wells:

good for you. Like, that's 10 times more than you paid. It is so and that frying pan that you got from Dollar Jennifer for a penny, yeah, I think you sold it for like, $20 yeah, yeah, was it? It was a brand I'd heard

Unknown:

of. It was Emerald legassi,

Suzanne Wells:

okay, Rachel Ray, or one of those Food Network people that have their own cooking stuff.

Unknown:

It was, it was the lower end of the thing. But still, but still, somebody wanted it, that's right. And then I'll just mention this is one of my best sales only because I found it in the middle of the street. So I found a pair of Ray Bans, oh my gosh, not the sunglasses, just regular glasses on the street, like nowhere where there was like a store where I could be like, oh, did somebody drop this? Maybe somebody dropped it driving by, I was literally crossing the street as I solos for $40 so free to $40

Suzanne Wells:

I love, that that happened to me one time, I found some really nice eyeglasses. They were prescription. I can't recall the brand, but I knew, because I was figuring out eyeglasses at the time, I knew this was worth something. I put I picked them up because, like, I didn't want them to get run over if they belong to my neighbor or something. So I put a sign up in the parking lot, you know, found a pair of glasses in my phone number, and, like, if you've lost them, let me know. And I gave it a few days, and it belonged to a teenager, and that mother was about to, you know, kick that kid into next week for leaving those expensive glasses. And it was fine. I was okay, like, okay, yeah, because if that was my kid, I would definitely want someone to give those back. But I thought, you know, I'm going to give them a few days, and if they don't contact me. I'm going to sell them because, you know, doesn't matter about the prescription. People can change that out. But, yeah, that was my good deed. I was like, Well, you know, you can't just sell everything you find. You got to give people like you're lost and found at the hotel, yeah, letting it sit there for a year. You're probably watching it every day. Yeah, about that hat? Did anybody call about that purse? Oh, no.

Unknown:

First dibs. The housekeepers get first dibs. So we had to see if they didn't. Okay, they found it. Yeah.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, you know, my brother in law used to travel a lot with his job, and he would always take paperback books. He just didn't like the electronic reading, which I don't either, and then he would just purposely leave him behind. He would read a whole book in a week when he was traveling, and they didn't have to carry it back home because he's already read it. So I think some hotels are going to have in little libraries like that, where, yeah, and just, you know, borrow a book while you're there to read it. But yeah, I think I would become a little neurotic if I had access to that Lost and Found room sitting there looking every day like what's been put in here today. Open it out.

Unknown:

Oh, another a stay cell phone, and I almost didn't find this. I had I tried to go through the house at least twice. So on my second pass, I was in one of the bedrooms and I didn't find anything. I turned to leave and I saw a basket on the floor. I was like, oh, what's in this basket? And I found a brand new with tags, women's Tommy Bahama swimsuit. And so they didn't have anything in that basket price. I took it up. I was like, Oh, this was in the basket. No price. She's like, Oh, $2 and I sold that one for $45

Suzanne Wells:

very good. And, yeah, swimwear sells all year.

Unknown:

Do you remember what I learned that from you?

Suzanne Wells:

Was that during a swimwear

Unknown:

season or no, oh, it was, it was yeah, it was last Yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

they sell even better because, like, when I do my send offers, I give better prices during the high season, you know, like, people are wanting them now, and this more competitive, because a lot of resellers don't believe they will sell during the off season. You get more money for them during the off season, because there's fewer of them on eBay.

Unknown:

That is so true. I usually travel in November, when my birthday is and I'll be doggone if I could not find a swimsuit. So yes, people will pay money I couldn't find a swimsuit in the big stores like Macy's. Where are the swimsuits all year round? People travel in the weather well, and

Suzanne Wells:

if you're on a cruise ship, you can buy one, but you're going to pay an arm and a leg for it.

Unknown:

Oh, my goodness. One other thing I was going to tell the people when I was newer, within my first year, I almost got scammed on eBay. Okay, now people are afraid of that, but so here's what happened. My son, he had an old phone, and it was back when you could buy these prepaid minutes to put on the phone. So I had a AT and T prepaid thing. I was like, Oh, well, let me sell this. So I listed it and someone bought it. But then immediately they start messaging me, like, can you scratch off the back and just read me the numbers. So I'm like, at first, I was like, Oh, he was like, don't mail it. Just send me the number. I'm like, No, and so he had already paid for it. He's like, Well, don't send it. Just I was like, No, I'm not I'm gonna send it to you, because you purchased it and paid for it, so I'm gonna mail it to you. And he kept back and forth. So I ended up calling eBay because I was, I was scared. I was like, What is going on? And I figured out, like, he could've, if I would have done that, he would have been able to, like, oh, I received it and it was scratched off, and so it was no value. So, yeah, so that was a lesson learned earlier, back

Suzanne Wells:

in the back in the day, maybe early, 2000s you could sell electronic digital items on eBay, and so you could sell gift cards, and you weren't required to mail them. You could just send the numbers like that. Oh, I didn't know. I don't think it says secure, you know, but now you can't do that. They don't allow anything digital. But, yeah, people would sell, you know, ebooks and digital music and all kinds of stuff like that. And eBay just didn't allow it anymore. I think because there were scams associated with it, it was, it was too hard to monitor, and there's, like, no tracking number with things, and the person could say, well, you know, it's a digital download, and I didn't get it, and all that kind of stuff. So maybe you were right on the, on the borderline of of that being phased out. Mm, hmm,

Unknown:

that's good. Because, like I said, when you think about it, he could say, oh, I got it, and it was already used, right? And I woulda had to refund him. Yeah, exactly.

Suzanne Wells:

Okay. Well, you just are active in all kinds of categories. You're You're a hustler, you know, looking for opportunities everywhere you go.

Unknown:

I do. I kind of like, I'm not. I dislike clothing so much. I don't want to do measurements, I don't want to do all of that, but I will sell clothing if i. Something that's somewhat valuable,

Suzanne Wells:

right? Well, and shopping those clearance racks, it's a game changer when you can get it so cheap, you know, it might be $8 at the thrift store, but on the Ross clearance, you can get it for less than $1 that's, you know, yeah, that changes everything. So thrift stores raising their prices so much now, and we just have to keep looking for new ways to get inventory at a cost where we can resell it for a profit. It's, it is getting harder. It is, it is one

Unknown:

last quick sale for some Penny items. So this was a seasonal item, so you know the, what do you call it? I have right here, oh, like Febreze spray. So Dollar General. Well, all the source have em Walmart, but when there's clearance down, the first time they clearance down, they go to 25 cents. But I waited till they were a penny, so I got a whole bunch of the apple cider Febreze sprays. So I had a couple two packs. So I sold a two pack for $16 paid two cents.

Suzanne Wells:

Oh, that's wonderful. Okay, and so there's no restrictions. I I guess if it's an aerosol can, you can, you

Unknown:

have to print that label that has think hazard on it. It can't it has to go ground. It can't go right, right? Yeah.

Suzanne Wells:

You know, for the listeners, just because something is hazmat doesn't mean you can't ship it. It's how you ship it. And you need to tell what's in there. A lot

Unknown:

of in the shipping area, there's like a drop down box, and you can select the appropriate thing, and on your label, it'll say H for hazards, so they know to send the ground

Suzanne Wells:

right. There's that question about, is this hazmat and you can go to usps com, just Google the hazmat list, if you're not sure. But you know, perfume, fragrances, all of that, can be shipped ground advantage, not International. It has to go ground, and there's no way for it to go ground International. So, you know, just think through it. Don't feel like just because it's hazmat, you can't sell it. It's, it depends on what it is like. I don't think you can sell a ship ammunition or, you know, vintage hand grenades. And

Unknown:

I hope not. Yeah,

Suzanne Wells:

we hope not. So. Okay, well, you have just been a wealth of information here. I think maybe people might rethink the couponing, because, like, if you're in the grocery store anyway, why not figure that part out and pick up a few things to sell on eBay, I know, like, when I go to Walmart or even the grocery store, I always look at the clearance section and like, you know, hair color and things have been discontinued that they're getting rid of, and like, the soaps and all kinds of stuff like that, you don't know how high the value is going to go that's true if it's discontinued. And it may only be discontinued in that store because it's not selling well at that location, or it could be the manufacturer's not making it. You gotta do the research to figure that out. So have you come across stuff like that that's discontinued and you didn't

Unknown:

realize? Oh yes. Well, I usually know of stuff, but some of that makeup that I got from Dollar General for a penny, those were discontinued. I sold one a few weeks ago for like,$12 and then one time, I think it was Walgreens, I got some L'Oreal lipstick. It was discontinued, and I sold it, and I was so mad I could only find two, because the buyer was like, Oh, this is my wife's favorite, if you ever come across anymore like let me know.

Suzanne Wells:

Hate. Hate it when that happened,

Unknown:

I know and I couldn't find it in any other store. Did you

Suzanne Wells:

see that post on my Facebook business page about the iced tea that Mark Sheryl

Unknown:

found? Yes, and we just got a we just got this door I ran,

Suzanne Wells:

I bet you did

Unknown:

last Saturday, because they just opened up a alleys in my area. It's like three suburbs over, but they didn't have it. But that's okay. I still that post

Suzanne Wells:

got so many comments because people are like, why he sold four of them for like, $120

Unknown:

yeah, and it's

Suzanne Wells:

this happens with discontinued consumables. You know, if you can't get it anymore, and I don't know why it was discontinued, that is all about the right place at the right time. And sometimes the manufacturer is moving the plant, or they've shut down temporarily, and the public doesn't do the research, and they don't know. Okay, this is coming back in a month, so you only have that window, Mm, hmm, opportunity when you can't find it, you know. And is it coming back? Is. Soon as it comes back, that ride is over, like those Clorox bleach pens,

Unknown:

man, if I ever that was on my bucket list for so long, I see they've gone down a little bit in value,

Suzanne Wells:

but, well, but I don't, I still don't think they're making them anymore. No, they're not. And it's not even about the product inside. It's about the applicator. Yes, yeah. Two ends one is a little squirty end, and one is like a scrubby end. But yeah, that that was discontinued because during COVID, Clorox focused on their most popular items. You know, I remember that and Bleach Wipes and that kind of stuff, and they ramped up production on all those disinfecting items that people wanted, and the bleach pen did not make the cut. I did the research, and I even called them. And I'm like, What's Oh, wow. And yeah, because I wanted to know, like, what's going on with these and so I have not seen that they have come back, oh, wow, still out there in people's laundry rooms and kitchen drawers, and I still think you can get about $20 a piece for them. Yeah,

Unknown:

that's great. I would encourage people to do if you're not doing international now, I've only had a handful of international sales, but do international. I've sold. I got something on clearance at Walgreens, some Destin, but not like the tube. It was like a huge jar, and it sold to Puerto Rico because they couldn't get it anywhere. You

Suzanne Wells:

know, that is the item I started with, selling on ebay UK, because can't get it over there, or you have to have a prescription and wait so long to get in the doctor to get the prescription, and meanwhile, your baby is miserable. And so people were just going on eBay and buying it from the United States, and they'd have it in a few days. Oh, wow, that's national health care system. A lot of things they can't get. Toothpaste with peroxide is one of them. Oh, okay, get that over there. Well, they couldn't at the time. Maybe that's changed, but it was those types of items that were, you know, pain relieving. I hate that you couldn't even get desitant for your baby.

Unknown:

That's terrible. Yeah, that was awful. So

Suzanne Wells:

anyway, well, are you estate sailing today? Or what are you going to be working on? Um,

Unknown:

no, actually, I'm not doing any sourcing today what I'm working on. Because every once in a while, and I haven't done this for two years, I'm going to be doing a pop up. So there's a huge thripping community I'm a part of, and they do outdoor markets. Okay? So I'm doing one in two weeks. So I gotta start getting my items ready, because that's a lot of physical work. That's why I don't do it that much. But I have some a good amount of stuff I need to get rid of quick.

Suzanne Wells:

Well, hopefully you'll have nice weather and get prepared for that. Maybe taking your lighter weight items. Are you on the ground floor of an apartment?

Unknown:

I am, thank goodness, because I used to be on the third floor. Yeah, I'm, I'm going to be boxing up. I'm only doing a couple categories, one table, and it's on the 28th so I got, I'm going to start packing the stuff up, because the pre work is what's a lot of work,

Suzanne Wells:

right? Well, I wish you luck with that, and enjoy your weekend, and thanks for coming on. It was great to finally meet you, and we'll be looking for more of your penny sales or free stuff that that you're selling. I love that business model, so thanks for sharing. Well, thanks for having me. Okay, have a good day. Okay, we had so much fun. We could have talked for hours. I love how much we laugh on this podcast. If you want to check out candace's Facebook group, the name is can't stop couponing, and it is a great resource if you are into couponing or just want a shortcut to know about deals for buying stuff for yourself or to resell. Next week, my guest is Amy. Of Amy's epic stuff, she wears many hats in the world of reselling, and has so many creative ideas. I hope you will come back for that episode. Thank you all for tuning into this podcast each week. Happy Selling everybody. Bye for now. You