Heat Wave !!!

I'm finding it VERY hard to get any work done during this heatwave.   After more than a week of 30+ Celsius temperature, I am grumpier than the Grumpy Cat.   I hate you summer - go away!

No sleep, water from the cold tap comes out boiling, and I have absolutely NO will to do any work.

I have no cooling in my flat.   In December, I bought some black fabric from the local op shop, and hung it over my living room and kitchen windows.   These two rooms now look like a Goth wonderland, but it keeps the blasted sun out.   Maybe one day in another destiny, I will be able to afford outside blinds.

Because I'm not getting much new stuff listed, I'm forcing myself to update my ebay items with adding lots of item specifics.    Great information on this on Tina's blog here.      This allows me to feel like I'm getting work done without having to move around too much!   I'm going through my videos at the moment  (not even a quarter of the way through yet!), and it's also allowing me to find videos that have slipped through the "sell similar" cycle, and are just sitting there languishing on my shelf taking whatever substances videos take to get themselves high.  I cleaned up their act pretty quick smart.

Only 920 items in my shop to update with the specifics, but I think it's already having an effect on my sales.



If I could pull my finger out and blog more often, I wouldn't have to try to fit so much in each one!!!


Some of my purchases from my last blog have sold.

These blank videos:

Cost :  about $2
Sold:  $23

The Betty Neels books:

Cost:  $2
Sold:  $30

I still haven't put up the Pyrex, mug, doll or bowl.  :-(

Did I mention this calculator I had bought about 6 months ago.   I dug it up last week in and looked up the prices again.  They hadn't looked so good when I first got it, but now it is the beginning of the new school year.  The high school students were now looking for them, and it has pushed the price up.  Sometimes it's just all about the timing.

So I listed it at a cheeky price near the upper end of the selling scale, and it sold a week later.  Now I'm looking everywhere for calculators, but I will never find another one.

I had also decided to stop selling the children's clothing bulk lots because they weren't moving.   I used to sell them in lots of the same size, but to get rid of them, I mixed the lots across 2 sizes and lowered the price a little.  Suddenly they started flying out of the store.   The last couple of weeks the money from these sales helped a lot, and having that few larger amounts put into my Paypal account *really* helped to lift my spirits.  

So yes - now I'm selling them again - but now I'm merging sizes, and dropping the price a little.    They still make a nice profit for me.   I'm keeping away from baby clothes, and sticking to the Size 2 and up.  ( But the baby clothes are SOOO cute!!!)     Lessons learned.

I go to two libraries a week - my local one and the one near my parents.   I love my libraries, and I don't know what I'd do without them.  I need my books to read!  I need to avoid reality as much as possible.

 Last week my local library had some good books on their For Sale table.  My eyes fell on lots of V C Andrews, and I swooped them up along with a lot of Buffy and Friends Forever books.  It was "fill a bag for $5" - so I got over 30 books.

The V C Andrews were two entire series.  I know these are good sellers, so I put them up ASAP, and they both sold quickly.   Still haven't put up the other books yet.   *guilty face*

It's funny, when I had my bookshop I would hate the sight of V C Andrew books.  I couldn't even sell them for $2 each.  If only I'd know then that I could have been selling them as sets on eBay for a good price!


Phew, it's 30 degrees now.  The forecast is for "storms" this afternoon.  What that means is lightning and thunder (no rain) which will do nothing but create more horrible grass fires, and cause the humidity to rise.

Waiting for a change.

Until then - like the wicked witch of the west - "I'm melting!"

Buys for This Week

I'm still trying to get out of my comfort-zone of books, videos & board games.
Still struggling with that - but managed to pick up up a couple of items I know nothing about, so I'm getting there!


I went to my local St Vinnies, and checked out their hideously over-priced books.  Then I spotted these 4 lots of books - in bundles of 5, all done up with a ribbon for $1 a bundle!  (Apologies for the blurred photo!)

I instantly spotted the name Betty Neels, and grabbed them.   Betty Neels is the most collectable Mills & Boon author.   She was a prolific writer - in most of her books, the male love interest was a Dutch doctor with an amusingly unpronounceable name.     Good on her!

I remember squillions of years ago when I had my bookshop, a lady came in specifically looking for Betty Neels and *only* Betty Neels.   Although there were numerous collectors that visited my shop, this lady told me that she only bought Betty Neels because there was no sexual content in the books, and these were the only romance books that were approved by her religion (not sure what faith she was of.)

I remembered it all this time.  A few years ago, I picked up a few vintage Mills & Boons of the 60's era - with gorgeous retro covers.   Much like these:

I decided to read one.  The story sounded sweet and  there was no man on the front cover looking like a skinned animal, and with no visible body hair (like the modern ones).  There would be no playing hide-the-sausage at all, let alone before Chapter 2.

The book started off predictable for that era.  She was 18 years old, and an air-head.  He was her boss, early 30s with the personality of a mushroom.    They got married and the inevitable spot of how's-your-father never occurred.      But get this - the best friend of the groom told her after a month of marriage that he *could tell by looking at her, that she hadn't done her wifely duty*.    So she let hubby get the leg-over and all was happy & bluebirds were singing.

I nearly gagged.   I'll never fall for those sweet front covers again!     Romance shmo-mance.  


 Back to the books - there were others in the bundles that weren't Mills & Boons - I peeked into the be-ribboned bundles and saw these were amongst them.

I know by trolling other book-sellers that Iris Bromige is a rare author, that people are on the look-out, so I snapped up all of them.   I put the 3 x Iris Bromige up for $7 each and this lot of Betty Neels for $29.99.

I love any of these Nightmare/Atmosfear games as you know.   I picked this up at a local church op-shop that only opens on Monday mornings.    It was $5.  The tight-wad in me nearly swallowed my tongue, but I knew I could get at least $25, so I reluctantly pulled the last amount of money out of my purse, releasing a flurry of hungry moths.

When I got home, I opened the box, and found all the pieces were still in original shrink-wrap.  Hurrah!

I put it up for $35 - and it sold a couple of days later.

This pyrex dish was $2.50.  It has no chips or marks.  People are always raving about Pyrex, so I picked it up.   It's pink with white flowers.  I guess if I can't sell it, I can keep it for myself.  I know absolutely *nothing* about Pyrex!

There is a Salvos that I recently discovered that sells their videos 5 for $1.  I go on a Tuesday morning, flash my low-income card and get 20% off - so that's 5 for 80 cents.  Woohoo, I am the last of the big spenders!

I was excited to find 5 blank video cassettes still sealed.

I added 3 others that I had at home, and put them up for $23.   


A Far Side mug that I got for 50 cents.  Haven't tried selling a mug before.   Yikes!

A friend wants me to sell this for her.   It is an Arabia Finland plate.  New ground here.

She also wants me to sell this Punky Brewster doll.  No comfort zone here.

This video re-winder is for me and my eBay business.  I often put videos in my VCR to test - press rewind and then I get distracted by something shiny.  My TV turns itself off in disgust at being ignored, and I have to turn everything on again.   Rinse & repeat.    So this item is fantastic!

I bought it on my Saturday morning op shop before I have lunch at my parents.   I plugged it in at their place and asked if they had some videos I could test on it.   My Mum found a couple and it seemed to struggle rewinding them.     I was disappointed, but at $3, it was worth the chance.

When I got it home, I sprayed WD-40 on the cogs, and now it's working perfectly!  Hurrah.  It makes testing of my videos so much easier when they are already rewound.  It's only one step taken out of the process, but it makes a big difference.


What is interesting is the video that my Mum had handed me to test.  It was a recorded video - when I looked at the title it said "Karina & Jonathan's Wedding."   I know it is a very amateur video that my cousin's wife took on her video camera on the day.  We had no professional videographer back then!

It was a poignant moment for me, because the other week I had been thinking of the videos I donated when I moved house three years ago.  I was thinking how much I could sell them for now - and then my mind slid sideways to the wedding video.   Mine was inexplicably damaged three years ago when I accidentally dropped it to the concrete, stomped on it ten times, and threw the pathetic remains in the rubbish bin.

I might just get the video off my parents and look at the me of 20 years ago.  Did I look happy?    Was I excited at what lay ahead?   Was I ever that young and innocent?    It would be nice to see the people there who have now passed away, those I'd like to see again - and those I hope never to see again.   I won't be looking at it until my 3 months of no-alcohol is over - there is still 7 weeks to go.

Oh and more importantly, did my wedding dress really look like a toilet roll cover?    Bwahahhaa!

Ah, memories ....

I've got a free ticket to ride !!!!

Ebay - Feebay  - this week I have given it another name - FreeBay.

It started last Thursday.    I was doing a "sell similar" on some products that had ended.

At the end of it all, a screen came up with the price crossed out and the total cost of $0.00 shown.

I shook it off as just a silly quirk of eBay.  I relisted 30 items as 'Sell Similar' and got the same message for all.    Just for a hoot, I looked at my eBay account, and it showed no listing fees for that day at all.

I was intrigued.  On my 12 years on eBay, I have NEVER HAD ONE SINGLE FREE LISTING.  I read on eBay Underground about people getting offers of free listings, so I assumed I had come up in the lottery for that day.

It was like my pants were on fire.  I was determined to list my items that cost a lot more per listing (ie. games, clothing, toys) at 20 cents a pop, rather than my usual media items (videos, books, magazines) at 5 cents a pop.  I went crazy.

Just to mention, I was very depressed that morning, because my sales had been so terrible.  We're talking $100 a week.  Not even enough to buy my food.   I was in tears.

This pulled me out of my blue funk and got me working hard for the rest of the day.   I listed another 20 new items, and listed some 10 others clothing and games that I'd been putting off.

That night the items were still coming up free, so I ended 30 items that were finishing the next day, and relisted them - just for a hoot!   I was squeezing that free listings day until it had no air left in it!!   I *throttled* it to death!

The next morning, my sell similar's came up free again.  I couldn't believe it - I spent another day slogging through listings.  When I ran out of puff, I ended the items finishing the next day and re-listed them for free.  I was on a roll.

Then it happened the next day, and the next, and the next.  It is now Monday.    I did a 'sell similar' on 10 items, and got charged for them.  My luck had run out !!!!

Oh well, it was fun whilst it lasted!!!   I'm still waiting for a huge fee to suddenly get dumped onto my account.  For the moment it is showing this new information in my Account Page:

I mean - wow!  It almost makes up for the horrifying $20 hike in my eBay store fees.   Almost.  Well kinda.  Well - no, not really.

I had a terrible run of 3 weeks with half the amount of sales than usual.    Then it was like the lights came on.  I had 4 sales within an hour at 10pm which is unheard of.  Then some more sales the next morning - and then it slowed to a trickle again.  


Sales This Week Worth Mentioning:

This was my only auction this week.  I was selling it on behalf of a friend, where we go halvies.   Car memorabilia is VERY collectable.   I watched the end of the auction, so I got my ONLY thrill in a long time.   (note:  don't have enough money to buy new batteries  *wink*)

I don't know what my friend paid for this.  Probably not much.

A basketball fan bought both this game & video:

Video: costed 20 cents
Game :  costed $2 ??

This Target ladies suit, I've had in my closet to sell for over a year.  What put me off, was the jacket and skirt were different sizes.    Free listing made me rethink it and realise, that we can be a different sizes top and bottom.  I made it clear in the listing.  This sold the next day.  

Total cost:  no more than 50 cents

Hurrah! Another pull-my-finger-out-of-my-bum free listing.  This will help pay for my food this week!

Total cost : about $7

Even though the free ride has ended, I'm inspired to clear the clothes in my wardrobe, if only to get the wardrobe space back!

Picked up some interesting items at the op shops this week.  Hopefully I will blog about them tomorrow.

I'm shrinking - but so are my sales !!!

Yes, I know it's nearly the end of January - but Happy New Year!!

Lucky I didn't make a new year's resolution to blog more.  Naughty me!

I did make a new year's resolution - to lose weight and to not drink alcohol for 3 months.

Bottom line - my doctor will be taking a blood test at the end of the 3 months to check certain levels in my blood.    That is the thing that will stop me from cheating.   Not one glass of wine, she said, or it will affect the test results.    It will also be nice to see my cholesterol, which is a little high, go down to a  healthier level.

I figured, seeing as I wouldn't be forking out the money for the plonk.  I may as well use that to re-adjust my diet.

I chose Lite'n'Easy.  With this great diet, they deliver ALL the meals to you - breakfast, lunch & dinner.    I only have to buy milk.   No more wandering around supermarkets at a loss at what to eat, and buying junk food.

I have even been eating ~  *shock* - fruit and vegetables!!!!

I am happy with the results so far.  

At the end of week 3 -  I have lost a total of 4.8 pounds / 2.2 kilograms so far.   I'm taking measurements too, for the weeks when I don't lose as much - so I can hopefully see that my thighs are getting smaller.   :-)

Only 9 weeks to go.  *SIGH*

Of course the last two weeks, my sales have been atrocious.

Total cost of Lite'N'Easy for the one week - $131

Total sales on eBay last week - $120.   And the previous week was no better.

Not even mentioning all my other bills.     I'm not paying off the postage I put on my credit card, and the balance is beginning to grow.   I'm finding it hard to get that extra money in my Paypal account to cover the $20 per month rise in my eBay shop fees.

I made the tough decision to cancel my Quikflix membership (my only treat that I give myself) to try and cover that.

I had a serious clean-out of books over the Christmas break - and got rid of about 200 the ones I was sick of the sight of.  I am over books.  Only sure sellers and bulk lots from now on.

In an effort to shrug off the doldrums, I decided to sit down and scrutinise my competition on the videos side of sales.   I scrolled through the videos sold and saw that the major seller was selling the same videos that I had up for double, sometimes triple my price.   My jaw dropped.

He had one photo of the video, with a generic description that said nothing about the condition of the video.   Lots of his titles were wasted with the words "a rare find' in all of them.   Most of the videos were described as "Like New".    I sneaked at look at his previous sales and couldn't believe the prices he was getting.

My listings have photos of the video - front and back, and of the video itself.  It has a detailed description of the video and it's condition.

We are both Top Rated Sellers, and Power Sellers.  His rating is at 100%, mine at 99.9%.   My postage is cheaper than his.  I don't get it!   Colour me confused!!

What the hell am I doing wrong?

So I jumped into my store, and  on my categories for the videos.  Some of them I raised the price, and added a Best Offer accepted at my previous selling price.   I added a special offer of - Buy 5 Videos - Get Free Postage.

So far it hasn't helped much.  It's still school holidays here, so perhaps everyone is spending their money on keeping the little monsters amused.   I could find excuses until I'm blue in the face.

In the meantime I try very hard not to get discourage, and keep my head down, and my (hopefully slightly smaller) arse up, and just keep listing, listing, listing.

Favourite Sales So Far

Oh dear, I meant to list my best sales every 1-2 weeks, and now almost a month has slid sneakily by.   Whoops!

My board games saved my bacon the past few weeks.   They are selling very quickly, probably being brought up for the Christmas/school holidays coming up.   Some bulk book lots have done well too.

I was also indundated with a dearth of twit buyers, blatantly ignoring the fact the I had no 'pickup' option selected in my payment option, and mention NO PICKUPS in the listing.    They just buy the item, and then email me telling me when they can pick it up.   I'm not having a stranger come to my house to make $7 on a book, thanks very much, Mr & Mrs Twit.


My favourite sellers were these:

Vintage Test Match Board Game By John Sands ~ *VGC* ~ Cricket.  

Bought for $2.50.   Listed on 4 Nov
Sold:  $53.99 on 6 Nov.

Scene It Friends Edition DVD Game ~ Like New ~ Cards Still Sealed ~ Unused

I love it when I find a Friends Scene It game.  Picked up at the Salvos for a reasonable price (!!!!), and some parts of it were still sealed.   A very fast flip.    

Bought for $2.99.   Listed on 10 Nov.
Sold for $55  on 11 Nov.

Josephine Cox - Bulk Lot of 7 x Paperbacks

Bought for $1.40.   Listed on 15 Oct.
Sold for $17.99 on 7 Nov.

Chelsea Football Club - 6 x PAL VHS Videos ~Bulk Lot ~ Soccer 

Bought for $3.  Listed on 18 Nov.
Sold for $19.99 on 24 Nov.

This sale is very welcome, just to get rid of these videos.  I had them listed separately, but they weren't selling, so I threw them all together.   I was sick of the looking at the gormless faces on the cover with their mouths gaping in wonder at their ability to kick a ball around on a grassy field and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for it.

*SLAP*  

Of course a newbie has bought these.   I have had to hassle him to pay after day 6.   We'll see if he actually does.
I want these GONE!


Vintage Scrabble Game Set ~ 1955 ~ 100% Complete ~ *VGC* ~ Wooden Racks

Bought for $2.  Listed on 9 Nov.
Sold for $35.99 on 16 Nov.

Scotland Yard Vintage Board Game ~ 1983 ~ Contents in VGC ~ 100% Complete

Bought for $2.  Listed on 20 Nov.
Sold for $23.99 on 22 Nov.

I ALWAYS pickup Virginia (V.C.) Andrews books.  They will always be popular.  I list them in an entire series, and can usually get the books 20 cents each.   They are always a sure seller.


Virginia V. C. Andrew Complete Cutler Family Series ~ Set of 5 Books

Bought for $1.50.   Listed on 10 Nov.
Sold for $16.50 on 25 Nov.

This last sale has more than a tinge of sadness.  I've had this bulk lot of Bryce Courtenay books up for about 2 months.   He sadly passed away from cancer recently.

The next day, all my Bryce Courtenay books sold.

Bulk Lot of 6 x Bryce Courtenay Books ~ Four Fires/Matthew Flinders Cat/Tandia +

Bought for $2 ?.   Listed on 7 Nov.

Sold for $17.99 on 23 Nov.

I would rather have the books still for sale, and the lovely man still here to write more books.   :-(

You have been wonderful too, Mr Courtenay.

Favourite Buys This Week

I thought I'd try listing my favourite buys.  Mine are not as exciting as on other blogs.  I have no posh brand-name clothing or rare china.  Generally, my sales are lower in price, so not as exciting.   I wasn't going to bother, but then I thought - hey, we all have different niches - you might learn something.

So here goes.   I did pick up some rare higher-profit items this week.

I am quickly finding that board games are becoming my big sellers, and the biggest profit makers for me.     With trial and error, I'm finally learning which ones are bombs, and which are good for a quick buck or as good-profit sellers.

The trick is to find places that sell them at a price where you can make a decent profit.    I went into a nearby Salvation Army yesterday, and they had Risk Game - the Lord of the Rings Edition.   This is the first time I've ever seen a Risk game after reading so much about them on eBay Underground.   I jumped on the box and looked at the price - $8.   *snort*   I looked at all little fiddly pieces inside, and put it back.   No way was I investing that money on something that hadn't even been checked to see if it was complete.   When I got home, I searched completed's just in case, and used ones were only selling for $20 maximum.   So I'm very glad I didn't get it.

Then they had this game for $2.99.    I pounced on it before someone else did.  VERY conservatively priced for the Salvos, which is a surprise.

This is a good seller in Australia.  I have sold a copy before for a very good price. This game still had the cards in the shrink wrap, so it hadn't been played.    I put it up yesterday, and now I'm waiting for a bite.

My sister very nicely found me this game at the Animal Shelter Op Shop for $2.50.   It was in pristine condition inside.  Now I KNOW this one is rare, and you can get a good price.    I put it up, and it actually SOLD for full price the next day.

I love finding old Scrabble games that still have all the wooden tile holders.   I grabbed this one, even though I didn't count the tiles.  You just sell the tile holders for about $10 and keep the tiles as spares.
As it turned out, all the tiles were there, and the board was in excellent condition.

I bought 6 games at $1 each :

~ Twister (already sold)

~ Atmosfear (incomplete - for spare parts - also had lots of cards for a different Atmosfear game)

~ Nightmare (incomplete - for spare parts)

~ Trivial Pursuit For Kids

~ Payday

~ Pass the Bomb

I had a good look at my huge pile of games, and decided to have a clean out.    There was some games that I was only selling on Quicksales, because it was free to list there.   I've had these for more than a year.  There was also a couple that were incomplete - sitting in my What To Do With pile.   I ended up getting rid of about 10 games.  I also naughtily trashed the games for spare parts - coloured dice, playing tokens, egg-timers and small pencils.

So I took a boot-load of stuff and put it in the donation bin this morning.

It feels good to have a clean-out, and make space for money-generating games.

Just for a change, I grabbed this NWT doll - which I now know is Agnes from Despicable Me.   It costed me about 25 cents.

Doing research I see somebody selling them for $10 each (NWT) and they're only selling about every third one.   So no huge profit there.

I'm also focussing on quirkier or vintage children's books.  These are the ones I found this week.

I remember reading this book as a child.  It's from 1982.  Cost = 10 cents.

Surprisingly, there are NO copies of this up for sale, nor have any sold in the last three months.

I always pick up vintage illustrated books on Aboriginal Legends.  This one is a 1st edition, published in 1972.    Cost = 10 cents

There are two for sale on eBay at the moment - both for about $17.

These two are so cute.  Published in 1961 & 1963.  Costed 10 cents each.

I can't find any of these up for sale on eBay or sold in the past 3 months.  One book in the "Whitman Learn About" series is up for $9 at the moment.

Bum Buy Of the Week

Yes, I did it, I tried to expand my horizons to children's toys - again.  I spent one day looking at Completed's for children's toys.   There was too much to choose from, so I zeroed in on Fisher Price toys only.    I decided to start at my favourite local Op Shop.   They have a room full of toys - we are talking floor to ceiling.  I instantly got overwhelmed.   Kids screaming, toys laid out on the floor as a waiting death traps.      All my best intentions instantly fled.

Then I spotted these:

Oh joy.  Wiggles products.  An easy choice.    These were probably under a $1 each in total.

At another Op Shop, I bought a little kids cassette player thing with microphone attached (not in photograph).

Got them home and tested them.  Cassette player didn't work.  One guitar didn't work.  Other guitar had 2 buttons stuck down and one button didn't work.   Accordion DID work.

Unless I carry around a range of batteries in different sizes, and a screwdriver (not going to happen), I think I'd better steer clear of those things.     Useless things got binned so nobody else spent money on trash.

Star Buy Of the Week

There were actually a few this week, so hard to choose.    That wonderful item that you saw, that gave you a naughty tingling in your bits.

At my favourite (local) op shop I rolled up to the bric-a-brac area and there, glistening in the early morning sun - is a HUGE plastic container with the sign "FREE VIDEOS."    I stopped for a  moment, and did deep-breathing exercises.    The lady that works there came out the door and spotted me.    "Ah, the Veeeedio Laydee" she says (she is Dutch).   "Take them.  Take them all.  Free - all yours.  We have too many.    No room."    I felt that I should buy something (well, I bought those children's toys and games) and took them to the car.    I snaffled all the good ones for nothing.    There was 16 videos.    Happy days!    

NOTE:   In Op Shops,  I am known as the "Veeedio Laydee".  Other places I am known as the "Book Lady."   Most other places, I am known as "That Weirdo."