Furniture Fate

This dresser was at the thrift store by my house for 3 weeks. Last week, the clerk told me they were having a 50% off sale today. I told her that I was going to get there at 9 and get that dresser.

9 came and went and I did not go. I went at 11:45 and the dresser was still there. I asked the manager if the dresser was still for sale. The tag was missing. This shopper overheard me and said she grabbed the tag because she was going to buy it.

Later, I saw her checking out and she said to me "I'm going to pass on the dresser. If you want it, it's yours." I asked the clerk what the price was. Unfortunately at that time, I did not have enough money on me.

I checked out a while later, went home and saw something had sold on eBay for the amount of the dresser. I called the store and asked them to hold it for me. I couldn't pass this up. It was meant to be mine.

The owl clock had been sitting at another thrift store for about 3 weeks as well.

I Got It

A few posts back, I wrote about not being able to find a hutch in the thrift stores for sale. I finally found one on Friday. It is bigger than what I wanted but I couldn't pass up a great deal. I got it yesterday afternoon. It took us two trips as it was raining and I didn't want my sister to take off the panels on her truck. It's really beautiful and I love it. I'm not sure if I'm going to use it for eBay inventory or for my own personal use. I found it at a consignment shop and not a thrift.

Contest Winner

I'm a little late in posting the winner. Random.org chose the first commentor: nandry guffey Please message me your mailing info krzi1@yahoo.com or message me on FB

Sparking Joy

I've been trying to declutter my house using the Konmari method. If you don't know what this is, you basically go through your things category by category, picking up items and keeping the ones that give you joy. You need to touch each item to decide whether to keep it. I have gone through my clothes and that is about it so far. I need to work on my books but have been putting them off.

I have also been using this method at the thrift store. I'm trying not to bring in more stuff so I have been picking up things that catch my eye and see if they spark joy. It seems to be working as I have been putting a lot of stuff back on the shelves. However, I did pick up this fairy rock garden. Isn't she sweet?

Have you tried the Konmari method? How is it working for you? Do you like to sort category by category or does room by room work better for you? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Not For Sale

Yesterday, I went to 4 different thrift stores to find a small hutch. The store by my house did not have any but they did have this nice display cabinet but there was a sign that said not for sale. The next thrift store I went with my sister. They had 6 hutches, 5 of them being exactly what I was looking for. (I only needed one) I looked at the first only to see a sticker saying not for sale. I moved on to the second, third, fourth, fifth and finally the last one. All of them were labeled not for sale. WTH?

As I was walking out, I asked the clerk if they ever sold any hutches. He told me no, they were told to use them to display their other merchandise. I asked how they expected to stay in business if they weren't going to sell any of their furniture. The store clearly states on the sign furniture.

I get how you want your store to look nice. However, I am not there for the atmosphere. I am there to buy something. How am I suppose to buy something if everything has a not for sale sticker? If you need a display, why not use the bulky tv stands no one ever buys? Or better yet, take yourself to the Home Depot and buy some shelving. You don't see anything at Goodwill marked "not for sale. Display only" This is one of the reasons, these mom and pop thrift stores can not stay open. You have merchandise to sell, why not sell it.

The third and fourth stores had similar stickers on some of their hutches. Is this a common practice? Does your thrift store have merchandise for display only?

Blog Give Away

Time for a blog giveaway. I have been using these delivery confirmation stickers for a week or so and I really like them. The lucky winner will win one roll of 250 labels. Contest is only open to residents of the United States.

How To Enter:

Go to my eBay store and become a follower. Click here
Like my page on facebook: To The Toy Box and Beyond
Leave me a comment saying 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

The contest will end next Monday, April 20 2015 at 10 pm Eastern time. Random.org will be used to pick which number comment wins. Good luck.

Search Engine Keywords

Have you checked your search engine keywords in the past month? Apparently there was some sort of glitch and a lot of the keywords turned to gibberish or in my case repeats of item titles. I have been busy editing these keywords the last week or so.

What are search engine keywords you might be asking? Here is what Ebay says on the keyword page: Below are keywords currently used on your eBay Store pages. You can customize these keywords to increase your chances of potential buyers finding your store pages when using search engines such as MSN, Google, Yahoo, and so on. eBay uses these keywords to create page Titles and Meta Tags.

Here is how to edit these keywords. On your My Ebay page, find the Manage My Store box and click on Manage My Store. Mine is at the bottom of the page.

It will bring up another page. To the left should be a box that says Store Management. In that box, you want to click Search Engine Keywords under Store Design.

You will then land on the Search Engine Keywords page where you can edit your keywords. You want to use words that describe what is in each category but only use that word once. Also, you do not want to keyword spam. For example, if you are selling purses but none of them are Coach, do not use Coach as a keyword. This is what part of my page looks like. I'm not sure if I'm doing it correctly, but it is a lot better than what Ebay had put there.