Mistake

So, it's been very slow this week.  We went out to eat with Tyler's parents after church and I got back in the car and immediately checked my phone.  I had sold something!  Something worth...$88.00?  I didn't have anything for that amount.  Well...I had at one time...but not anymore.

I found a set of eight teacups and eight salad plates by Victoria & Beale in their lovely Williamsburg design.  These can go for a pretty penny (especially the coffee mugs), and I had gotten the whole set at GW for $5.00! 

Before our vacation, someone bought three of the plates (listed at $11.00 each).  After vacation, the listings ended, so I just did "sell similar" and didn't think about it.  Well, NOTE TO SELF: when doing "sell similar", it doesn't take into account that someone bought three plates, so the listing still said I had eight plates!  Today, someone bought all eight of them for $88.00.  Crap.  So I messaged the buyer and explained the situation.  I offered her $33.00 and shipping back and I would ship the five plates I had, or I could just refund her money.  I haven't heard back from her yet. 

In non-eBay related news, I have recently become obsessed with Pinterest.  I have been a member for a while now, but didn't really pay any attention to it until Friday when I wanted to figure out a way to hang pictures in the baby's room.  Here's what Tyler and I made:

 It's a 1/4" board from Michael's with a Dr. Seuss quote.  The clothes pins are glued on and the ribbon on them have "A"s on them.  I have to get some pics developed to hang up.  I haven't sent pictures to get developed for months!

A scrapbook paper wreath!  The original design used a wreath form, but we couldn't find one that was the right size, so we used cake boards and cut a hole out of it.  Then I used 2"x4" scrapbook strips and glued them in a pattern.  Because we used the cake board, you could see the cardboard, so I wrapped some paper around the center and hid the edges with some pretty lace ribbon I got on clearance at Wal-mart.  It's on Addy's door.

So that was my weekend.  A serious eBay screw-up and some very cute crafts!

Eureka!

Ok, we're back from the beach.  The baby loved to play in our condo but hated the beach, the sand and the pool.  So...yeah.  It was fun, though.  Well, the bits when baby got sand in her eyes and cried for the entire duration of a dolphin tour were not too fun, but we survived.  Then the baby got sick.  The doctor says it's just teething, but the last time he said that, it was pneumonia (I know, right???).  She's better now, though and I've been listing my heart out.

I've read lots of stuff about people bellyaching about the new "best match" and I agree with a lot of it.  On Auction Bytes lots of people are like "oh, I'm going to leave eBay" yadda yadda yadda.  Well, I'm all out of whack on Best Match, too, but I won't be leaving eBay.  I've just got to  be smarter about what I list.

So I'm thinking about things and very slowly, a hypothesis forms in my head.  I go to my sold page to check if I'm right and I am!  I've not sold very much this week but guess what 90% of my listings had in the title and item specifics?  "New".  NWT clothes from the GW and TJ Maxx, clearance toys from Target, etc.

It could be a coincidence.  I'm going to keep an eye on this, but I know that eBay wants their website to be more "upscale mall" than "flea market", so it makes sense that Best Match would favor new items over used ones.  I did a couple of test searches and the BINs that showed up first for clothes and toys were all new.  I know that I usually only click through the first couple of pages of listings when looking for stuff...I wonder how many people will wade through the newer, higher-priced things to find the used ones?

What if this is true, though?  What if this is how it works now?  What does that mean for yard-salers and flea market pickers?  Unless you specialize in collectibles or older toys, it means we're screwed, friends. 

Have you noticed any sort of pattern?  Let me know, I could use a tip!

In Which I Do Not Complain

...ok, I'll complain a little.  My sales still suck.  But I've gotten away from the real point of blogging about eBay and that's to share what I'm selling and what's doing well.  So here's some recent sales:

Belk (a Southern department store) is having a huge clearance sale, like half of half.  I picked up two boy's shirts since they were $10.00 each.  I figure, hey, if they don't sell, I have the receipt and I can at least take them back.  I put them for auction starting at $16 each and they both have bids and watchers.  Hopefully I make more than $12.00 total on them.

I got this Le Creuset kettle at TJ Maxx.  It was on clearance for $20.00.  I checked completeds and was hoping I could get over $60.00 with free shipping for it, but it just sat there with a ton of watchers, but no buyers.  I changed it to $45.00 and charged for shipping and it sold fast.  I only made $25.00 on it, but I'll take it.  Again, I know it's risky to spend so much on something new, but if you keep the reciept and the store accepts returns on clearance items, it's pretty much fool-proof.

I do not understand these LaLaLoopsy dolls.  They're awkward and unposeable and heavy, but apparently people love them.  This one was at the GW for $4.00.  I sold her for $17.00 + shipping in about two days.

Vintage straw trivets.  Picked them up at a yard sale for .25 each and sold them last week at auction for $12.00.

These were a re-release of vintage Budweiser pint glasses I got at a huge yard sale about a month ago.  Paid $2.00 for the set and just sold them tonight for $19.99 + shipping.

Vacation fund is going ok.  I'm also using it to buy things for vacation, which for some inexplicable reason included spending large amounts of money on "beach clothes" for baby at Gymboree.  But she's got to look good at the beach, right? 

We had a good weekend and did a lot of patriotic stuff with Tyler's family. 

Hope everyone has a great 4th!