Nickle and Dime Store

 Im going to have to do something and do it soon. The garage is a nightmare. This is the 3rd time in a short period that I can not find something. The Asking Alexandria tee finally were found in an box not with all the other t's. The piggie salty and pepper were hidden in a box in the room, not anywhere near stuff I'm selling. And today I had to tear apart the garage again (AGAIN!!) to find the dog leash I sold.

For $5. The entire time that i combed thru the garage looking for the AA t's I asked myself "is this worth it for 10$"

So what to do? I'm going to have to dedicate a couple of hours everyday listing stuff. If they don't sell I'm going to do mystery boxes and see how that goes. Or sell boxes on Marketplace.

I'm frustrated by my lack of profit this month. I've bought as much as I've sold. It's like hitting a brick wall. I've had two ebay purchases that the buyers did not pay. I reported the last one. She is a seller with about 1000 reviews. How can she screw me like that? It was not a big amount! 10 dollars for the cute Japan/Holland salt and pepper shakers that sell when they are displayed. The pictures are crap, they did not photograph well, but they are cute.

Just a bad month, next month will be better. I've got to develop a business model that works better for me. Someone was saying they sill spend 10$ to make 40$ I've read elsewhere they will spend 50$ to make 100$ i suppose they know their market and their product more throughly than I do mine.

Nickle and dime. That should be the name of my storefront.

Fetish my Foot

 I had one of my posts on Ebay taken down because they said I did not adhere to their used clothes policy. That I was intentionally seeking out people with a fetish for dirty socks and this case the Trashed Vans. WTF? I had no intention of seeking them out, they sought me out and asked about the shoes, wanting to see the insoles and asking if they were worn with out socks. I said I didn't know but they did not smell. The second time I just said, yes they appeared to be worn without socks but there was no smell. I also told this guy that I was going to clean them up and sell them for a higher price if he was still interested in the Trashed Vans.

Now I have crossed some line. I don't know if it was detected in my messaging or in the post itself. Either way, I am on probation and if it happens again I get a 3 day suspension.

Well I never. I looked up other offerings on Ebay and I'm not sure how I was exposed or fingered. Maybe it was the messaging. I  guess I will never know.

What I do know is no more Trashed shoes for Alphawoman!    

E-Bay! E-Bay! E-bay!

 Three sales in one night! Wow. Didn't make much, but it is good to sell. I am not going to consider the loss I incurred on the Barbie Doll. I messed up. The other day someone offered me a low price and I countered and they bought. I shouldn't be afraid to lose a sale. Especially if I am losing money.

So, I will take pictures once I get home. I received my Mannequin head and have a slew of ball caps to get up. I also need to concentrate on moving that jewelry. Jeez, it's every where. On top of the frig in the garage even. I thought "what's this?" and it was a box of jewelry.

I did read something interesting on one of the FB groups regarding marketing. It's not what you sell, it's who you sell to. You're target market. So, if I concentrate on my vintage jewelry, I need to research who buys that stuff and find out the keywords and SEO (search engine something...lol) and apply those. 

Research research research.

I am addicted to the bins and have a hankering to go but I need to apply myself to posting my stuff. My sales are about the same as last month, but not nearly as profitable. 

 

Is it Wednesday?

 A week ago I won a BIG lot of jewelry at the "other' auction and as of yet I have not posted one single item. I think. maybe that Karu Arke brooch was from the first lot. But, I did have three coro pieces in there. It's just hard to post on my computer. And that means...

I'm headed to Walmart after I mail this one measly package and purchase a brand spanking new lap top. I went in yesterday all  bummed out about something and this kid came up and asked if I needed help. I told him, probably being curt, that I was just looking and comparing prices. He said I had come to the right person because he was the computer GURU. Then he complimented me on my shirt. It was the Love Thy Neighbor tee.

So he steered me to the right laptop and told me that the program running the computer was the best and that it had a place on the side for the adapter fro my SD card.

Today I am getting 400$ out of my Mercari account and bite the bullet and get it. I also am covering it with the cash reserve in my Edwards account. A win win.

 

Back in the Day

 I started blogging in 2003. On AOL-Journals. I had read a book called Pammy.com or something like that, and was introduced to the on-line concept. The concept of having followers and being an influencer. I started Alphawoman's Blog and lamented that I was at the half way point in my life, that is if I live to be 100. My Mom and Dad were still alive. As A matter of fact, my Dad was in the hospital and Joe and I were thinking of getting married that week-end and postponed it. Why I remember obscure details like that 17 years later is odd. 

Do I have 17 more years left? I laid in bed last night, up at 305 am. How old would I be? 84? When I wake up at 7am because the alarm went off, I don't feel so hot. I ask myself what I ate. Oh yeah, I had four bourbon and cokes watching a marathon Cary Grant marathon on TCM. Missing Mom, because my love for TCM came from her. Watching them every night. Being introduced to such classic as "I remember Mama" "The Bishop's Wife"  "The Gold Diggers".

When I started AB it was easy. I was filled with stories triggered by my day to day shenanigans, my job, my many hours on the road driving from town to town, place to place, meeting an array of interesting people, having virtually no supervision, thinking all the time. Made for some good blogging. Then Face book came along in 2008 and the AOL-J's got axed. I have no idea where Ab is right now. I published o platforms, here and there. JAHG suvives, but I am no longer able to publish on it. Because I'm a Boomer, I can't figure it out. 

I have a huge inventory of analog journals, but this year have all but abandoned it. Just jot a note now and then. Life, as I knew it, is gone. This COVID 19 has changed the world and I have changed with it. 

I have a black market Xanax in my purse and I think I am going to swallow it. I have thought I have lost it several times. Last week I thought maybe I had given it to a grifter on 9th Street whoes sign read, attacked by midgets, need money for shin guards. 

I'm rambling. Debby told me I live an interesting life and never a dull moment. Maybe she is right. I have been told that I am oblivious to myself. Among other observations. 

Just another day at the Bins

 The other day while at the bins just as they called for the rotation cycle and or everyone to line up away from the bins, I noticed a big guy tossing stuff around like he didn't care if he broke anything or not, that his life depended on it, to get to the bottom of the bin before he was ordered off the floor. As luck would have it he stood next to me and I struck up a conversation making note of his frantic last moments in the bin. 

He was so nice. Ends up he has made 19 grand on Ebay in 90 days and sells pallets. He is not from this area and was unfamiliar about Eastern Blvd or Street I can never remember because they the same street in Louisville. So back to the bins and I see him again and ask his name, it's Rico.

Fast forward to yesterday I find him on an Ebay group and make contact again. Now we are friends of a sort, I sent him the link to the Pallet place and he says it looks like money. I asked if he had a truck and he does so Woo-Hoo! he said we could be partners,

He's cool and I think this might be the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

Dream Theater

 The night could not end fast enough last night. Dream after dream of anxious hand wringing drama. First one I remember is being in the airport getting ready to board a plane with two other people.  They were girls...women. I reached into my bag for my ticket and everything was gone! I had to go to the airline counter and explain my predicament! They were able to issue me a ticket, but asked a multitude of questions and then some very stern looking woman decided I was working with Russia! I was calm and unflappable about the whole thing. I was seated and pondering how I was ever going to get home because they took so much time I missed my flight. Not to worry, you can catch the next one. To Atlanta where I would transfer only there were no planes leaving for "home" once I arrived and I would have to spend the night in the terminal because I had no money for a hotel room.

Then I was surfing! Really surfing. I was balancing and doing everything like they so on the real thing! Ned was there and was unimpressed. Something about me being a fuck up and I had my chance and no surfing could change things. I was so hurt.

Then I was late for work. I looked at the clock and it said 8:45, i was to be at work at 9. I wasn't dressed or prepared so I ended up in a car, with Joe, and trying to call directory assistance for the phone number to EPI (why is it either EPI or Coke in my dreams?) but they could not find it. It was in my phone, but I had lost it along with  my airline ticket etc. at the airport. Maybe they would understand when I showed up late. I let Joe drive and screamed when I thought he made a left turn into one way traffic. He pulled up on the curb and said "WHAT!" I just laughed it off, because it was not a one way.

The last one was that Joe was mad at me. He was going to go somewhere (that's the way dreams are) adn I was puttering around in the yard, because it was (and it is) full of weeks. I saw two cars in the driveway and thought that was odd, Joe should be in one. As I came around the cars I saw Joe laying in the neighbors front yard (though it was not Matt and Sam's it was somewhere else with a gorgeous lawn) in his white long johns. I wondered how long he had been there, knowing it was a long time and also wondering why no one alerted me. I was able to wake him up and get him into the house, into a bed room that was an absolute wreck.

So, that was my Dream Theater last night.

I'm at the library getting ready to ship out two Barbie dolls. I also sold the Asking Alexander t's but can not find them. I have a few days to hunt them down. I'm sure Bridget took them but she says she has never seen them.

I'm not allowing her into my garage anymore. She thinks its free day at Macy's.

Japan is a Foreign Country

 I had a buyer ask if I would ship internationally. So I weighed my options, my hesitations, I watched You Tube tutorials and decided it was not that hard. So I did it. It did take a little bit of time to figure out but I finally got the label printer out and in a few weeks Ebay will take the 21$ to ship out of my account.

It was the Gold Lame Elvis Funko Bobble head. There are Zero on the Internet. I began at $100 and sometimes higher. I was offered 40$ once last year. THis time I got 45. 45 of nothing. He got a deal.

Bridget i s asking me to pay for her Suboxon doctor and B is asking me for pizza. B is asking me for her birthday money in advance...so I ask for some nerve pills in return. The other day I was in an agitated state, don't know why. I get tired of yelling at people in my car. I'm one of those crazy Boomers who yell at cashiers who will not take my expired coupons. Ha. No I am not there yet. But, I like to feel calm and kind of like I'm floating about the sidewalk. I took half of a Valium, and had one more left in the bag. It was originally in my change section of my purse. I came up on the homeless guy who is usually set up at the end of the 3rd street ramp at River road. My route to effectively avoid the 2.15$ toll on I-65 bridge. As it is my habit, I give this guy money. No....heavens this was somewhere else, maybe Saturday on the way to the Fish Club. He had a sign that said, Attacked by midgets, need money for shin guards. I thought this guy is absolutely nuts! So I rolled down my window, grabbed a handful of change and handed it over to him and asded about the ;Midget beating. He said, I just like to make people smile.

Oh no, I think I gave him my last Xanax in the handful of change! What a great surprise for him! But, I was wrong, it was safe and sound where I had hidden it in the .....no not gonna tell  you.

I am getting ready to head to the Bins as soon as I drop off this pair of CT Converse which I under cut shipping costs.  This is not the first time I have made an error. I was highly anxious the first several times I did it, but so far they have just gone on through. I hate to do it. I feel responsible for the demise of the USPS. Just doing my part to bring it down.

Well, I'm buzzed again. Nothing so absurd and pitiful than a 67 year old druggie. Bad Habits never die.

What A Difference A Day Makes

 I was so HIGH Monday morning with my 7 sales and then it was 8. I had finally made the algorithm work for me. Then I went and began to pack up the items and I dropped the Pumpkin plate and  broke it. I was devastated. I had tried to carry all my packing materials into the living room. Packing a plate for new for me and I had a plate protector, bubble wrap, a box and goodness knows what else. I put one box on the counter and proceeded to drop the plate juggling everything else in my arms.

I was inconsolable. It was and still is my best weekend so far. But I had ruined it. I did not receive another bid or offer until yesterday. Now maybe its because of the uncertainly regarding the economy, but I feel it was because I broke that plate, cancelled the transaction and ignited a hiccup in my algorithm

After the post office trip, Joe and I went to the new pallet liquidation place in -ville. I was so tempted to buy a 550$ pallet that I am surprised I did't,. Well,for one I do not have a truck to bring the pallet to the storage shed. There was a ton of hardgoods in the pallet box. A bike, a coffee maker and other goodies.

This key board is a bitch so I am signing off.

What a Week-End!!

I made 7 sales this week-end! I can't believe it. I didn't make much They were items I have had around for awhile. The Quicksilver T-shirt and the Pumpkin Williams Somona plate have been on my site for months! I also sold 3 pieces of jewelry. The abalone bracelet has been on for awhile. The cowboy earrings have been on for awhile. And what was I thinking offering the Rhinestone pin for free shipping!

Anyway, I'm happy. 

I have been rearranging the garage and I am finding stuff I did not even realize I had. I feel like a hoarder. I need to get my ass in gear and just post everything. I bought a five head lamp at Target yesterday. Why are people so un-customer friendly. Everyone seemed put out to be of assistance. Why is customer service at Target not marked as such? It's identified as Returns and Registry. Do they not want to provide Customer service?The girl could not find what I was asking about. Their web site is kind of unfriendly. When I was directed to a guy (Jerry?) who was to meet me in aisle D-27 he acted like he could care less if I was a happy customer. I almost felt compelled to not thank him.

Maybe I give off a vibe behind my mask. Maybe I am pissed off all the time because I don't like Target all that much. But they did have my item and it is set up in the garage waiting for me.

Steve and Bridget found a pallet distirbution place in Clarksville that takes bids on pallets and then they are yours! I am so interested that I am going to take Joe this afternoon and check it out. But!!!!!!I have like a million items already at home to post.

I may stay away from clothes. I don't know what my niche is yet. I love my jewelry but don't know much about it. Just what I like and what that is is Southwest stuff. And glittery stuff. Shiny objects.

That seems to be what I sell the most of anyway.