Slump-itis

 It's slump time for Alphawoman. I sold 17 items two weeks ago, 8 items last week, and 4 items this week. My motivation is down. I have not been listing as I should and it shows in the sales. I'm just not into it with all the fuss going on around me. J has gout, D is now in a nursing home transferred from the hospital, and B will not get a covid shot. I have begged her and even made arrangements to go pick her up and take her to hold her hand. She is scared and wants S to go with her. Crazy town. I do not want to see her get sick and then cry about not getting the vaccine.

Just because I am in a slump does not mean I'm not still sourcing. After my highly successful yard sale where I unloaded a lot of my dead inventory. I was able to get some room in the garage and also make approximately 300$ Which I immediately spent on more stuff to sell. Which I have barley listed 2% of it.

The in person auction I over spent and came home with a bunch of broken crap. The painted ponies, which I paid 40$ for a box of horses, the Pegasus was broken in two places and sported an obvious repair on a back leg. Bummer. The value of the horse went from 100 to ZERO. I got the Paul Sawyier print I wanted, framed of course, so that was a win. I lost out on the two boxes of Asian figurines and dishes I covet. They sell well and I guess I am not the only one that realizes that. I also got my Belleelk, which I have laid out to sell. Actually, the only disappointments were the horses. 

Then I wanted the piano babies and the Fenton hand painted Fairy Lamp at the S-ville on line auction and I over paid like I was a collector and not a reseller. I got the Lamp for 72$ (just shoot me) and have to list it at $150. Some have sold in the 200's$ go its just a waiting game for the right person to come along.  There is not another on line anywhere, so that is good.

Lot's of stuff I did not need but the price was right. Like this Fenton Cake plate.

The Italian Gloves with the cool glove hanger!

i wanted these Piano Babies too and only paid 42 for the 3. I think I can flip them for a nice profit. Just hoping they are not reproduction's

A good price for a box of Geisha dolls!

Female porcelain figurines.

And this Fenton candy dish.

Pick up Monday. I'll track the sales.

Auction, E-Bay, & A Scam

Written July 17th 

Where to begin? A very good week selling. Much better than the prior two weeks which had me doubting my efforts. I was listing every day and selling nothing. I had three days in one week without sales. It is unusual for me to go one month with three days of no sales. 

But things turned around this week. 17 items sold, all paid for. I sold a  lot of unique vintage buttons and looked over the garage two times and could not find them. The week before I had to cancel an order because I could not find a pattern from the 1930s and I certainly did not want to cancel again. I would have probably lost my good standing with E-bay. So I sent a large box of better buttons....I hope she doesn't report me as not as described. 

And then I almost got scammed and if he weren't so stupid, I may have had it handed to me. He offered 200 for my Liz Taylor as Cleopatra Barbie and I took the bait. He asked to pay via pay then told me to look at my email for a message from pay Pal with instructions for shipping. The he wanted to know when I was going to ship it. That irritated me. I told him in the morning when the Post Office opened. I sent the shipping  So I purchased a shipping label from Pirate Ship and sent him the info. That when he made his fatal mistake or I would have put the doll in the mail and he would have gotten it and gotten me. BUT, he texted me to read an email from Pay Pal saying that I was not eligible for a $200 transfer and needed to open a business account. AND that he had to put an additional $200 in the account and I was to reimburse him the 200$ blah blah blah. I went WTF?!! Actually I said WHAT? I have been dealing with PayPal for years and have never run into this sort of malarkey. I told him I was gong to contact PayPal. He told me I didn't have to that he was on the phone with them right this moment and everything was okay. I called PayPay and after a few minutes realized it was a scam. I cancelled the shipping label and blocked him. This type of Drama needed this type of ending. Saved. 

Took my daughter to the Auction with me. We were late because that is just the way it is with her. Always late. I missed out on one of the lots I dearly wanted, but I have realized just wait, something else with come your way.

I got the Barbie's I wanted (60$) and the two pictures I wanted (Sawyier and Native American drawings) spent maybe 55$ on those two. Got the Fiesta Ware (only three pieces not nicked or chipped damn it) And with everything else I wanted and did not want (emotional bidding) I ended up 150$ over Budget. HA!

I made a trip to one of the local Flea Markets and was totally wowed over by some of the lay outs of the booths. Lot of great ideas to have my own booth in one of the three very close Vendor Malls around this area. Pricing was also a major factor at the Flea Market. Many similar things I have were on display at the market. A wicker plant stand, 64$. A jaguar statue with green eyes 75$.  Circle of Love figurine 20$. Vintage evening bags 42$ But most important were the ideas I came away with to make my booth stand out and attract attention. That is the name of the game, along with having quality merchandise. 

Saturday afternoon the world caved in. My step daughter had an incident while staying with us. Don't know what  actually caused it but she was unresponsive in the bedroom having fallen out of bed and was crumpled on the floor. My step son, her brother was also here (too long a story to explain) and called 911. They revived her with Narcan and she has been in the hospital almost comatose ever since. She has become more responsive the past two days since getting a feeding tube in her.

Life is so precious and you never know when it will come crashing down around you. Make reselling so insignificant and inconsequential.

Life is like an Auction, You Never Know What You'll Get

Somewhere in the Cyber World people are taking the pledge to not source in the month of July but to just tackle their "profit" piles (aka death pile). I commented that I was in, after an Auction at my Fav Auction House. Nuts to that. yesterday I picked up 50 bucks worth of auction wins. Today I go get an additional 30 bucks worth. But today is a trifle different as I will be getting some extremely needed shelving. Along with a Boy Scout book and something else, can't remember. Problem with participating in many auctions, you never know what you'll get.   

I bid on this lot of Barbie Dolls and won it for 10$ i did not know it was a large tote full of half naked Barbie and Ken dolls!

And these little cuties from the same auction, also 10 bucks. I also have three Dalmatian's from the Cruella movie not shown in the pic. 

 The wizard of Oz Nutcrackers I got flast week. Can't remember how much I spent, I think around 15$

I need to get busy listing or get busy being a hoarder. Ha Ha. 

What I sold This Week 6/27 - 7/3

 Things are really slow for me. I am selling nothing on Merc which has always been my best platform. Maybe an over saturation of sellers or maybe my items are now quality and prices sort of high. Not off the charts high, but in the 50-75$ range. These fishing lures sold for 15$ on FaceBook Marketplace. Qucik. All my fishing lures sell quick. I price 3 at 20$ and hope they bite ( yuck yuck) or I take 15$ I'm in the balck on the lures not and have about 12 more to go.

This cute little fellow sold quickly also. He has some damage, his top knot is broken off and he has two large cracks in his back. But he has a joyful expression and I liked him a lot and so did someone else. He sold, also on FB, for 25$. I got him in a multiple lot at My Fav Auction House. So he cost me almost nothing. One dollar or less. 

The Flamingo sold. I could not determine if he is collectible or just a run of the mill souvenir from Florida. But, once again I got him in a multiple lot at Mack Daddy Auction house, for les than a buck. I listed him at 35$ sold for 20$ Since my sales have tanked I'll take anything that will make me moola.

Once again, Facebook.

Old stock sold - on Ebay. Bridget gave these to me and so absolute profit. Think I sold it for 17.50$ less their fees. B has quite a few more! Bring them over, I can sell them all day, The Extra Small went slower than the larger sizes. One sold Ebay, one Mer

Mother and Daughter Willow Tree sold on Merc. Probably in the 18 - 22 range can't remember.

The only other thing that sold was an Wedding Barbie (ebay international-Canada) and Cresendo Gloves I have had up since forever Ebay, and rhinestone music jewelry (ebay) that is old stock also. And the Nunn-Bush shoes. Ebay.

I'm discouraged a bit. I listed more than I ever have before but sold less. This is the worst month I've had All year selling only 42 item for the entire month of June.

Guess I need to push harder. List more lower priced things along with the higher prices and just keep trucking!

Goal for the coming Month is to source less and scope out a booth at the near by Peddler Mall of the Vendor Village. Both are kind of low rent but I figure it will be a way to understand the ropes and if Im up to it.