She Shoots, She Scores

On Friday I picked up two pairs of vintage All Star Converse at a garage sale.

I didn't buy them at first and left the sale. I went to a couple of others and said to myself: "Self if those shoes are still there, we are going to get them." I walked back and there they sat, my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I offered the seller $7 for both pairs. He had $5 on each. He took the offer and I said: "My son loves Converse shoes. He's going to love these." The guy said "Oh are they the right size?" (Doesn't matter, I thought. I'm listing these puppies on Ebay.)  I said "Yes. He wears a 10." He replied "Someone wanted to buy the blue pair while I was still wearing them." I picked them up and said "Are these old?" He replied "Yes they're vintage." I thought for sure he was gong to snatch them out of my hands and say "No shoes for you." I put them in the stroller and jumped for joy ran away  walked away.

I couldn't find any like them on Ebay. A group I belong to was having an auction contest where you list one item at auction for 7 days with an opening bid of $7 The auction that had the highest bid would win $77. I decided to put these as my entry. The contest started today.

I listed them and got one bid. Then I got a message asking if I would cancel the auction and list as a BIN for $300. Yes, 3 BIG ones. Who would turn that down? Not me, sucker. He paid right away. I then got a second message from another buyer asking me to cancel the first sale and sell them to him for $500. Shoot, wish I would have waited a few minutes there. I told him I was sorry as I was obligated to sell them to the first buyer. (Can you imagine the bad karma on that?)

I'm happy with my profit and they are going to Minnesota in the morning.

Disappointing

I was looking forward to going to Goodwill this week and ended up being disappointed. I found one thing in the entire store. One lousy thing. Sure, I had picked up some other stuff but didn't feel like they were good sellers, so I put them back. I noticed another buyer checking out items on his phone and thought "Wow could you be more obvious?" I was also a teensy bit jealous because I have no phone to see if something will sell or not. I have to follow my gut or find the things I have sold in the past. Here is the item I purchased.

They look like brass but how do I know for certain? The biggest key is 7 inches and the smallest is 3. One of the Ebay groups I belong to (Ebay Underground) is having a contest where you list one item at auction for a starting bid of $7. The three listings with the highest bids, win the contest. First prize is $77, second gets $50 and third is $25 I don't expect to win anything with these keys, but I think they will be my entry. Even if they only sell for my opening bid, I will still make a $5 profit. (not counting the fees)