Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Ebay Does It Again...

Leaves me confused that is.

Hard to believe, I know, right?

So I had a pair of The Limited Stretch corduroy pants that I picked up for a $1.50 at Good Will a while back. I immediately put them on Ebay with a starting price of $4.99 and shipping of $4.95.




Didn't sell.

Boo.

I waited a week or two and decided to put them back out there with a starting bid of $6.99 and $5.95 shipping. I had to readjust shipping on all of my items. I hadn't realized how much postage has gone up.

Once again...


They didn't sell.

In fact not many of the not many items I had put out there did sell.

Boo again.

But since it costs me nothing to relist and it takes literally two seconds to relist - you just click relist and then one other button in the next page to relist, unless you want to change something - I didn't want to change anything. I relisted these pants.

Guess what?

Yup - you guessed it they sold for $9. Crazy, huh? Other of my items that didn't sell, sold this time around too. So I am happy.

I think part of the problem when I listed them last week was that I had the auction end on the weekend. I am starting to see that I do better when I have the auctions end in the middle of the week, at least for now.

Timing must be everything when it comes to Ebay!





Monday, October 18, 2010

Allowance, Schmollowance...

We have never really done allowances with the kids before..at least consistently. If they needed something we just bought it of course and if they wanted something well it would just depend what it was, how much it was, etc. Unfortunately, the answer most of the time was"no" or "wait", neither of them a bad word, but it got old saying it and I know for them it got old hearing it.

See, when you have four children and you are a fair parent, as we try to be, one $5 little gadget that isn't anything much, turns into $20 and four little gadgets that aren't anything much. If you buy for one, you can't help but buy for all.

I am not trying to brag, but we have pretty well behaved children, they do any chores we ask, and more often than not it is without any whining. I know, right? Blessed we are.

OK, ok back to the whole allowance thing..Brian and I had come to the conclusion that in order to keep our sanity while at a store and to keep from being nickeled and dimed to death, allowances are going to be necessary. I had been reading a thread on a mom's forum I go to regularly about allowances and how different families determine the amount each child receives, so we decided to go with "half their age + $2". Got it? Make any cents sense?

So here is how it goes:

Oldest daughter is 11, she receives $7.50 (half of 11 = $5.50 + $2= $7.50)
Middle daughter is 8, she receives $6 (half of 8 = $4 + $2 = $6)
Son is 6, he receives $5 (half of 6 = $3 + $2 = $5)
Youngest daughter is 3 and she receives $3.50 (half of 3 = $1.50 + $2 = $3.50)

I like this method because they can see that age has its privilege and they know that with each birthday their allowance will increase.

I also like it because I can take them to the store with me now without having to give the "don't ask for anything, we are just running in to get a couple of things, we don't have time to look at toys, I know you just want to look, but really we can't buy anything" speech. They have their own money, to give, to spend and/or to save.

Here goes to teaching some financial responsibility (or at least try)!!!


BTW, we will still provide all their needs, I promise!



Monday, October 4, 2010

Ebay? Ebay?? Ebay???

Remember when I said I was too busy to blog?

Remember the part about turning "trash" into treasure over at My Dear Trash?

So I decided to give it a try..

I mean I love a good great deal, but I DO NOT HAVE THE ROOM to keep very many great deals.

Soooo...I decided to see if I could make a profit off of my deals.


I started seeing $$ signs at every yard sale and at every thrift store...even in my own closet (and my husband's too..ssshhh don't tell)

I am still trying to figure out what it is that makes an item sell..is it simply price? Is it shipping costs? Maybe it is all about timing, yes, that must be it..because check these two sales out.


Here we have a ladie's size small Gap Stretch jean jacket.



I purchased it at a yard sale for $1. Listed it on Ebay with a starting bid of $3 and shipping of $5...after a 3 day auction, it did not sell. I immediately relisted it. I changed the starting bid from $3 to $2.99 and the shipping from $5 to $4.95, so a 6¢ difference. It ended up selling for $7.50 + the $4.95 shipping.

Another example that proves it is all about timing..



This nice Tommy Hilfiger men's jacket was found in the back of our closet, we have no idea where it came from, so decided to throw it out there. Starting bid was $3 with $5.50 shipping, after a 3 day auction..NOTHING. Remembering the Gap jacket, I relisted it. However, this time, I upped the starting bid to $4.99 and lowered the shipping to $4.95.

Yeah, it sold for $10.50 + $4.95 shipping.

BTW, if that was your Tommy Hilfiger jacket..I am so sorry......

So while I am still learning the ins and outs of selling on Ebay, I do remind myself that it is all about timing, just as pretty much everything else in life.