Why I Love Selling On Ebay

Usually when a buyer sends me a message, it is bad news. Either their item is missing, damaged or they need to return. Very seldom do I get a thank you message but tonight I did. This came through my personal email and made my night. (If you ever buy off Ebay and are happy with your purchase, let your seller know. Little things like this, makes their day.)

Hello,

My name is Jxxxx Xxxxxxex Xxxxxx, and I want to say thank you, I was always looking for a brother to my Changuito ;-)
And this was the perfect gift to my partner, now we will have a lot of fun on our next vacations LOL
I wish you a happy new year and greetings from Eagle Pass, Texas

;-)

He included these photos. I was given permission to use them. I sold him the lighter monkey. (Silly as they are, they do make me smile)

Atari 2600 Score

or so I thought. I found an Atari 2600 console with 7 games, 2 joysticks, 2 paddles and a track ball on my local fb garage sale group. The price was $30 and I messaged the seller asking if he would take $20 He meet me halfway at $25.

seller's photo not mine

I sent my hubby out on a snowy Sunday afternoon to get my purchase. That was a mistake because as soon as he got his hands on it, he wanted to keep it. And I couldn't blame him. Pac Man, Centipede, Space Invaders who didn't like those games as a kid?

The posting stated the track ball didn't work all the time and it probably needed to be cleaned. Well, that wasn't entirely true. You could shake the controller and hear pieces moving around. I took it apart, and one piece where a gear thing sets was broken and the gear thing was just jingling around in there. I decided to list it on Ebay for parts so we will see if that will sell.

I wasn't quite disappointed about the track ball because the seller did state it did not work. What upset me was the adapter to plug it into the tv was not included. The seller told my hubby at pick up that he did not have it but my hubby bought it anyways thinking he had one in his garage. He did not. So now I don't even know if the console works but we decided to keep it anyways. Hopefully I can find one at Radio Shack or on Ebay.

Giveaway Winner

I'm a little disappointed that only 2 people entered my blog giveaway from last Wednesday. The winner was comment number 2 which is Rae from Say It Ain't So

So my dear Rae, shoot me a message at krzi1@yahoo.com with your address and I will send you the awesome chipmunk lithograph.

Enjoy!

Blog Giveaway

Time for a giveaway. The winner will receive this signed lithograph by Leslie. It comes in a beautiful silver 5" x 5" frame. Giveaway is limited to only the United States.

How to enter:

First become a follower if you are not already following
Like my page on Facebook: To The Toy Box and Beyond
Leave me a comment stating you have done so

For additional entries: up to 2 more

Share my giveaway on Facebook or Twitter
Mention my giveaway on your blog
Leave me an additional comment for each entry

This contest will end next Wednesday, December 4 at 10 pm Eastern time. Random.org will be used in picking which number comment wins. Good luck!

My First Etsy Sale

I got my first Etsy sale today. I sold this vintage nut bowl with nutcracker and picks for $22 plus shipping

You can purchase shipping labels through Etsy but they do not take the money out right away from your paypal account. They charge it to your monthly bill. 

I have 22 items up for sale in my Etsy shop, including these sweet holiday postcards

If you are still looking for a unique gift for that hard to shop for relative, check out my Etsy shop here

Thrift Store Finds

This past summer the thrift store had this sleek looking stereo/cd player they were using in the store. I wanted to purchase it but unfortunately, it wasn't for sale at the time. Fast forward a few months and they put the stereo for sale. It fits nicely in my record stand but you have to pull it out if you want to listen to a cd as the top opens for cd use.

I also found another Chicago Bulls jacket. This one was priced higher than the last one but I managed to find some discoloration on the white part of the sleeves that they missed and I got it for $10 less than the asking price. I was going to keep it for myself but I didn't like how it fit on me. You can see it here in my store.

My husband asked me why on earth I purchased these vintage socks. Well, because there is a market for them on Ebay. Check them out.

If tube socks are not your thing, how about some vintage leg warmers? Jane Fonda rocked them and you can too.

I also found some pretty cool nut crackers. They are made in China but still make a decent display.

BOLO: Hallmark Muppet's Animal Ornament

Wednesday,  I walked over to the thrift store and noticed a sign: 50% off  Christmas. Our gift to you. I decided to look through the Christmas stuff and see what I could find. The first table didn't have much I was interested in. I then walked around to a shelf and found a Hallmark ornament box. Sometimes these boxes don't have the ornament that is pictured on the outside. I was happy to see this one did.

I don't know a lot about Hallmark Ornaments but I figured Animal would do well. I was surprised to see closing sales of $60+ I decided to list mine at $64.99 with free shipping. It sold today.

I also picked up this animated Christmas scene. This too was in the original box.

You can check it out here in my store

Treasure Chest

I bought this chest from my facebook garage sale group. It was advertised as having children's costumes, dance outfits and formal wear. The seller was basically selling the chest and the clothing was free. Although the clothing wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, I had fun digging through it and hopefully something will sell.

Dance Outfits:

The cheerleader outfit had too many issues, so that ended back up on the garage sale group. The other 3 I listed on Ebay. There were actually 2 of each outfit, a medium and a large. Right now, I am running auctions on the mediums.

You can check out my auctions here.

There were a couple of outfits and hats I had to redonate. Maybe someone can fix them but I do not have the time or the ability.

The best part of the chest was finding the vintage clothing. This was marked in a separate box as formals: wedding dress and capes. I didn't find the wedding dress or the capes and these were the only formal dresses. They both look hand made.

The strap on the blue dress needs repair and unfortunately when I washed it with the pink dress, some of the pink coloring stained the blue dress under the arms. I listed the pink one on Ebay.

I wish some of the dresses were my size. I really love this black and white party dress. The black is velvet. You can see it here

Found some dresses from the 50's I think

I love the white flowers on the bottom of this dress

.

Lorrie Deb yellow dress

Youth Fair Petites

This is another velvet dress. I love the bead work on the bottom of it.

If anyone has any keywords or suggestions to get these to sell, please let me know. I don't list a lot of clothing but thought since I had it, I might as well give it the old college try.

What $5 Bought

I walked over to the thrift store today and found this:

I looked at the price tag $4.49 for all 5 pieces. What a steal. I then thought about the nightmare this would present for shipping. How on earth could one ship this to arrive safely? I almost put it back. But who can resist such cute containers? The only flaw is the chip on the front of the salt shaker.

I have no idea how much a set like this will sell for. Listings were all over the place. I decided to price it high with best offer and see if I get any response.

You can see my listing here

Why Did You Ruin That?

Last week, I was at the thrift store and way up high on a book shelf, I spotted 4 Telco animated figures. I knew some of these can go as high as $50 so I bought all 4.

Whenever you buy something that requires batteries, you run the risk of it not working. And sometimes if the item works the first time you try it, doesn't mean it will work the day you sell it. My thrift store has a no returns policy but I decided to take the gamble.

Three of them worked and one did not. I decided to list them. When researching, I realized that whomever these belonged to, did not like the Christmas theme.

Piglet should be wearing a Santa cap and scarf. There should also have been ribbon in his hands and across the honey pot.

Winnie the Pooh is missing his winter cap and the tree is missing the green branches. He is the one that doesn't work. I also noticed when I got him home, the guy bagging my items had smooched his nose in.

Eeyore is suppose to have ice skates. When the person removed them, they put a hole in his foot. They also replaced his green scarf with some Winnie the Pooh fabric.

and last but not least is Tigger. He also did not escape this DIY horror project. He is missing a Santa hat and scarf. There should be a red ribbon around the present and honey pot instead of the Winnie the Pooh fabric.

Obviously, the previous owner wanted to display these all year long. I'm hoping that there is someone else out there that would like to do the same.

To see these in my store, click here

Etsy

Now selling on Etsy. I honestly have no idea what I am doing over there so any suggestions, comments, feedback would be appreciated. Also do most Etsy shoppers prefer free shipping? Here is the link to my shop.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/treasuresinthrifting

Da Bulls

Back in the early 90's I was obsessed with the Chicago Bulls. Who could forget the final 3 seconds of Game 6 (1993) when John Paxson scored a 3 pointer winning the game and giving the Bulls their first three peat? Who else was sad when Jordan announced his retirement in the fall of that year. Pippen, Grant and Armstrong all held their own but the Bulls were not the same without Jordan. Then in March of 95, Jordan came out of retirement. Shortly after, the controversial Dennis Rodman was added to the line up and in 1995-1998, they had their second three peat.

Ok so what does the Bulls have to do with my blog or even Ebay? Well back in those days, I coveted a Chicago Bulls Starter jacket. I wanted one so bad for Christmas but it was never meant to be. Eventually, I stopped watching the Bulls and the jacket became a distant memory until Thursday. Hanging on the rack with other donated jackets, was the Chicago bulls Starter jacket I so desperately wanted back in the 90's. I looked at the tag. $19.99 A little pricey considering all the other jackets surrounding it were priced between $3.99 to $9.99. The store is having a half off sale this Thursday and for a minute, I thought I would wait to buy it. Did I really want to take the chance of it still being there?

I knew I could at least double my money so I bought it. I was a little shocked to see I could more than double my money as some of these jackets sold between $50 - $100 If  mine doesn't sell before Christmas, I'm going to keep it. Hopefully it will fit a little better then.

To view my Chicago Bulls Jacket click here.

Bargain Bags

The thrift store by my house puts all their smalls into bargain bags. This can include dolls, cars, crayons, fast food toys, and other things. The prices range from .49 cents to $1.99. Sometimes you get lucky and find a few good things in each bag but most of the time, you only find one thing and end up redonating the rest.

This is what I found today. I didn't look up anything and granted they are not big money makers but since I have free listings, I might as well use them to get people into my store.

I found this Kenner Shimmers doll on Monday along with the Hasbro battling troll in one bargain bag.

This obviously wasn't in a bargain bag but it was a good price.

Thrifting Finds

I have not been to GW all week but I did stop at the thrift store on Tuesday. I found a Batman costume for Ryker and some other things.

The Batman mask came in Ryker's happy meal. I asked him if he wanted to go to Bethesda to see if they had a Batman costume. They had the jump suit but no cape.

Two weeks ago, we found a Woody and Buzz Lightyear costume

I found a Caboodle. These can go for good money on Ebay. Especially one with a lot of trays. I guess crafters use them.

This second caboodle I found at the same store a few weeks ago. Both are for sale in my Ebay store.

and of course some stuffed animals.

If you press her paw, she sings "How Much Is That Doggy

I thought this monkey looked like Curious George

and a vtg Dakin St Bernard. He is missing his barrel.

Last but not least is this cute puppy planter I thought would sell in my FB garage sale group but no one has shown any interest.