Tag Archives: resell

Suddenly Motivation! Listing Goods on Craigslist

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Of course after 30 days of zero motivation to list stuff on Craigslist during my last money challenge, I suddenly get a surge of energy to try to sell stuff in the house:

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To be fair, I bought this ambidextrous mouse at a cheap family thrift store at Bannister & Blue Ridge for $1. It wasn’t some mouse I had lying around the house. Even better, it’s made by Logitech which is a company known for making great computer accessories that can last years. The two minimal side buttons are programmable to allow for scroll or back & forth on the interwebs according to user preference. These usually retail around $30 – $40 but I’ve listed mine on Craigslist for $15. I figure it’s a fair enough price for the local Cerner/Google crowd who may be interested.

And then there’s this Pfaltzgraff set I listed for only $20:

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My brother in law got it for The Beard and I after he was told that we love antiques. What the poor chap didn’t know is that we already have all the antiques we could ever want. So this set is a bit useless to us. I decided to list it for $20 just b/c it’s Pfaltzgraff and might get some attention. We shall see…

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Next up is a terribly racist cream/sugar/butter dish set of some kind of Aunt Jemima character from years past. I bought the set for a few dollars in 2006 on some ancient farm property in western Kansas. I’ve tried to sell it before on ebay but I didn’t catch any buyers. I’ve decided to test my luck and list it on Craigslist KC for a whopping $50.

We shall see…

At least I’m finally listing some goods instead of letting them pile up in the storage closet…

Only time will tell….

 

Day 9 of Money Challenge #2: Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 days – Lazy LARP cloak day

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Ya, that’s right. I’m a little lazy today. After mowing the lawn, taking out the glass recycling, scheduling a hair appointment, taking a 3 hour nap, and eating a local burger, I’m exhausted in the wonderful way that late 20 somethings get exhausted.

To make my life even easier than it already is, I’ve decided to relist something on ebay that didn’t sell during my last money challenge.

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It’s a LARP cloak. A vintage, tri-color leather Flinstone-esque LARP cloak. And I’m the kid trying to sell it. So I’ve put it back up on ebay and lowered the auction starting price by $20 because I’m desperate. DESPERATE, I tell you.

And I sold something else in this challenge! That weird vintage Springer spaniel belt buckle sold for 4 bones. It’s no fortune, but I’ll take it.

Day 9

Listed thus far: Sarah Coventry brooch, vintage candelabra, Springer spaniel belt buckle, Cabela’s socks, Avon necklace, vintage ice cube tray, viking like candelabra, and vintage Looney Tunes DEKA plastic mug, vintage knitting supplies, Vera scarf, The Bon-Ton vintage gloves, vintage leather cloak, 

Total sold: $7.49

Day 8 of Money Challenge #2: Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 days – The Bon-Ton

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It’s only been a week since I began this challenge and already I am sick of ebay! The process for listing items online can be so time consuming when you have to take photos, measure all sides and then draft a listing that markets the item. Oh, it’s exhausting on nights like tonight when I just want to curl up on the couch and drink beer and eat mac n’ cheese.

But alas! I listed something:

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Two pairs of vintage buttery soft leather gloves from The Bon-Ton in York, PA. The Bon-Ton has a pretty rich American history so I’m hoping it will attract a buyer pretty effortlessly.

In other news, I sold my first item today! The Sarah Coventry brooch I listed on Day 1 sold for $3.49. Not bad, chap, not bad at all.

Day 8

Listed thus far: Sarah Coventry brooch, vintage candelabra, Springer spaniel belt buckle, Cabela’s socks, Avon necklace, vintage ice cube tray, viking like candelabra, and vintage Looney Tunes DEKA plastic mug, vintage knitting supplies, Vera scarf, The Bon-Ton vintage gloves, 

Total sold: $3.49

Day 7 of Money Challenge #2: Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 days – Scarf it down

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Summer 2006 was the summer of yard sales. My college roommate Megan and I went to dozens of yard sales that summer. Every Saturday was a new adventure to find the ever elusive items that we could sell on ebay to make a few extra bucks.

In talking with some old ladies running a church rummage sale in some small dusty town in Kansas, I learned about Vera Neumann scarves. Collector scarves from post World War II era America, usually in beautiful bold colors and signed “Vera” with her signature ladybugs present somewhere in the pattern. The old gals convinced me to pay $1 for one of their Vera scarves and I’ve hung onto it ever since.

Until today, when I listed it on ebay:

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It doesn’t have Vera’s signature ladybugs, but I’m hoping to get a few bucks for it. We shall see…

Day 7

Listed thus far: Sarah Coventry brooch, vintage candelabra, Springer spaniel belt buckle, Cabela’s socks, Avon necklace, vintage ice cube tray, viking like candelabra, and vintage Looney Tunes DEKA plastic mug, vintage knitting supplies, Vera scarf

Total sold: $0

Day 3 of Money Challenge #2: Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 days – Dog days of ebay

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So far there’s no buyers for my vintage candelabra or brooch so I found something random that is so random it just might sell!

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Behold! A vintage springer spaniel belt buckle!

Somebody has to be into Springer Spaniels enough to want to keep them near their button fly, right?!

I can only hope. I listed it starting at $4. We’ll see if I get an interest over the next 7 days.

Day 2

Listed thus far: Sarah Coventry brooch, vintage candelabra, Springer spaniel belt buckle

Total sold: $0

Lessons Learned from Money Challenge #1….and new challenge!

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It’s been a week since Money Challenge #1 ended. It was quite humbling to come up short by almost $200. But I learned some valuable lessons to help aid me in accomplishing future challenges:

1. Don’t stop the winning streak. I quit collecting money everyday on Day 12 of my last challenge and never fully got back on board. That was a mistake. Taking a break made me lose the momentum needed for achieving the objective. In the future, there should be a daily blog post to stay motivated.

2. Be reasonable with goals. The Beard thinks it was silly to set a random dollar amount in the last challenge. When I told him I wanted to somehow make $500 in 31 days, his response was, “How did you come up with that amount as a goal?” I didn’t have a good answer. I guess it’s better to set smaller, more realistic goals.

3. Stay motivated. I could have psyched myself up more to help myself stay motivated during the last half of the challenge.

So I’ve decided to take on a similar challenge with different goal points. Plus, this one combines my love of accruing extra money with my desire to downsize my belongings in hopes of embracing a more minimalist lifestyle.

So the new challenge is:

Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 Days

That’s right. I have to list or sell something every day. Every day, I need to put something on Craigslist or Ebay or Facebook to sell or I need to somehow sell something by taking it to a resell shop.

Although I haven’t created the rules of the challenge yet, I’ve already decided to list something. So, as of Day 1, I’ve listed this brooch on Ebay:

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This kickstarts Day 1 of the challenge. Hopefully with a daily goal as part of the challenge I’ll actually be able to achieve it!

Day 28 of Money Challenge #1: $500 in 31 Days – Dare to Chair

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As far as furniture goes, I got off pretty easy until age 24. When I went to college, my dorm room came furnished with a bed and desk. Then I moved in to an apartment with a friend who already had the place pretty well furnished. And even when I moved out into my own apartment, a friend who’d lived there before had moved across country and left almost all of her furniture for me. 

It wasn’t until I moved to Kansas City that I was faced with furnishing my own apartment. I slept on a mattress on the floor in an empty room for 8 months. 

Until I bought these babies: 

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Two golden brown accent chairs. They were on sale at the furniture store for $120 plus a small end table between them. I was so broke but so desperate to have some kind of seating in my new apartment that I signed up for a credit card at the furniture store to finance the purchase. Not a wise money move, but it was 0% interest for the first six months and I paid them off in two so there was little harm done. 

If you’ve ever owned an accent chair, you’ll know that they’re not entirely comfortable. Just a plain cushioned chair. Now that I have a houseful of furniture, I found little use for these kids. They sat unvisited in the sun room and the cat was beginning to use one as a scratching post. So I decided to list them on Craigslist.

And they sold for a whopping $30 cash! They were picked up this morning by a nice lady in a minivan. I half hoped some poor recent college grad would nab them to carry on their tradition of first furnishings for desperate kids.

But alas, $30 more. Finally, a little money gained.

Day 28

Today’s gain: $30

Total amount accrued: $288.14

Left for the win: $211.86

 

Day 26 of Money Challenge #1: $500 in 31 days – Bookin’ it

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While I have no bidders or watchers for my ebay listings, I figured I’d better find a different way to get some funds. I had read about Powell’s, the online book buyers, a while ago and decided to give them a try. Apparently, if you enter the ISBN of a book you want to sell and it meets their condition criteria (no rips, markings, water damage, etc.) then they’ll pay you for the books via PayPal and they’ll even pay the shipping costs!

I ransacked the bookshelf for things I either already read or could do without.

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Yes, Bossypants is an awesome book and everyone should read it. 

I went to Powell’s and listed all the ISBNs to see how much money I could get for the lot.

I was optimistic.

And I was let down. They didn’t want my books. Not even Bossypants.

I think I’m just gonna try my luck again on Craigslist….

Day 10 of Money Challenge #1: $500 in 31 days – Ebay Bidding Blues

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Last week I listed an expensive dress and skirt on Ebay in the hopes of seling them for a hefty profit to pull me ahead in the challenge. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen quite as planned. The dress and skirt sold for a profit of only $10. At retail price, they’d sell together for around $280. I guess that’s what makes ebay such a great site for bargain shoppers. 

But today I’m only $10 richer. I guess it’s a fitting number for day 10!

Day 10

Today’s gain: $10

Total amount accrued: $142.50

Left for the win: $357.50

Day 9 of Money Challenge #1: $500 in 31 days – Selling collections

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We all have collections, intentionally or not. Most of which can yield some profit if we’re willing to relinquish them. Some people have video games they can sell to a video game store for some quick cash, some people have antiques, others have a surplus of DVDs to resell. I have vintage clothes. I’ve spent the last 8 years selling vintage clothing for a profit. Sometimes on ebay and sometimes on etsy. Either way, I have a few plastic tubs of vintage clothing that I can always resell in a pinch. 

Today, desperate for funds, I called vintage clothing shops in my city for a potential customer for my lot. Finally, I found a buyer: 

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So I gathered two bags worth of my collection that I was willing to part with

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The owner of the vintage shop looked over the smattering of my collection and opted to buy one bag’s worth for the low sweet price of 

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That’s right. $40 cash. All for a few vintage dresses and handbags. This is the most I’ve made in a day of my money challenge. 

I’m still behind schedule to attain $500 in 31 days, but I’m getting closer. At least I’ve finally broken the $100 mark!

Day 9

Today’s gain: $40

Total amount accrued: $132.50

Left for the win: $367.50