* Another great place to source... your own home!

During this past winter, the garage sales were hard to find and the thrift stores are getting pricey so my pile of items to list and sell on eBay grew very thin. I still have the inherited china in my attic but I am only ready to sell a few of those pieces here and there.

My "formal" living room is now my eBay store and photography studio. Although never used, it was decorated but as eBay started taking over, my furniture left the house, one piece at a time, and the knick-knacks went into cupboards.

One day as I was looking for something in one of those cupboards, I stumbled across a lidded glass jar that I used as a candy dish at one time. I have fond memories of helping myself to Hershey's Kisses from one that my aunt had on one of her end tables. When I was decorating my first house back in 1989, that glass jar was one of the items purchased to decorate my fancy living room. It used to contain Werther's toffee candy.

Anyway, I have been slowly building my research library and had recently purchased a few of the Gene Florence glass reference books. Since I didn't really like the candy jar that much, I took it out of the cupboard and sat down with my new books to see if I could identify the pattern. What do you know? I found it - the Elaine pattern by Cambridge Glass Co. I then looked it up on replacements.com (I use them for pricing strategies) and discovered that they called it an ice bucket (I later found out that it was actually a biscuit jar). Theirs was listed without lid for $219.00!!! Mine had a lid!!!

HAPPY DANCE!!

I started it at $99.00 and immediately got bids. The auction ended at a whopping $1338.19!

Who knew? My little nephew used to go into that candy jar all the time when he came to visit. After the auction was over, I was so afraid that when I took it out to wrap and pack I would find a major flaw. But it was in perfect condition (whew!), the buyer paid right away and was very happy when they received it.

With that kind of score, you would think that I would clean out every closet and cupboard in my house. I haven't done that (even a $1300 score can't motivate me to clean closets ;0) ) but last week I did sell some bedding that I bought a few years ago and never even took out of the package. My own dinner set was built by pieces I picked up each week at the grocery store over 20 years ago. I sold all of the cup and saucer sets last year. That dinner set is Churchill's Blue Willow made in England.

My closets and cupboards still need a good cleaning and spring is here so you never know. Happy hunting...

* A Tale of Two Dinner Sets

I love to buy and sell dinner sets because they are so easy to list. I break them up and sell the pieces separately. Most buyers looking for dinnerware on eBay are trying to replace broken pieces or to add to existing sets.

Goodwill used to be a great place to pick up nice sets for good prices but they have gotten expensive! You can get dinnerware for really low prices at yard sales but that is not the most consistent source. Last month I found a great set at Goodwill and an elegant set at an estate sale. Two very different sets and two very different purchase prices.

I was lucky to pick up a good sized set, 31 pieces, of Mikasa's Garden Harvest at Goodwill. I knew this was a good pattern because I sold every piece of a set that I had purchased last year. I broke up the set and listed the pieces at auction and in about 3 weeks I have sold 20 pieces... and I still have more to sell.

The elegant set was purchased at an estate sale here in Easton at the beginning of March. It was a large set of Haviland Limoges which was displayed beautifully in the dining room. It was very tempting but the sale price was too high. It is a simple white pattern with gold scalloped edges that I later identified as the Ranson pattern. The set consisted of 40 pieces including a covered casserole, gravy boat, plates, bowls and cups and saucers. They had also included pieces from a few other patterns that were very similar to the Ranson pattern (white with gold trim) but by different makers.

The people holding the sale were taking bids in the event that the set didn't sell. I gave them an offer and was very surprised the next day to get a call telling me that it was accepted. I've sold 17 pieces so far. I still have a ways to go before I make back my investment. And... I haven't sold the serving pieces, yet. Stop by Sales by Trudy to see the remaining pieces.

Two very different dinner sets - one every day and one elegant. One was a great deal and the other was a moderately big investment. I made a nice profit on the Mikasa set and I am still short on the Haviland. But... I have no regrets because more, if not all of the Haviland pieces will eventually sell from my eBay store.

Having a variety of items at a variety of prices is a great way to encourage traffic. That way there is something for everyone. Window shoppers are more than welcome. Someday I may just have the perfect item for them!

* A New Place to Put Stuff!!

A pretty exciting new development... I am getting a storage shed and I can't wait! When I started garage saling and thrift store shopping and selling on eBay I had no idea how quickly I would become overwhelmed with merchandise! Not to mention the boxes and packing supplies.

So far I have been managing to contain everything in my office, a guest bedroom and the living room...but just barely. The boxes and peanuts are in the garage.

Here is a breakdown of my eBay from purchase to sale:

• Shop
• Stage - When I get home from my shopping excursions, I unload in kitchen.

• Write-Up - Next, I unpack and bring things into my office where I measure, examine for flaws, chips, etc and come up with a title and short description. That information goes on a separate inventory sheet for each item.

• Pictures - Those items and the inventory sheets then move into my living room where I have a table set up to do photography. After taking pictures, I pile the dinner sets, mugs, glassware, collectibles wherever I can find a somewhat clear space (did somebody say space??) still in that living room. The books and smaller items go into the guest bedroom.

• Auction - The inventory sheets come back into my office with me where I edit the pictures and list at auction.
• Sell! (hopefully) - I pack and ship in my office (a story for another time).
• No Sell - The items that do not sell at auction immediately get re-listed into my eBay store.

Sounds like a great system, doesn't it? Sometimes (a lot of times) I don't get everything written-up. Those items get stashed in yet another place in my overcrowded house. Remember the chandelier parts? They sat under a chair in my kitchen for over a year. ;-)

So, the new shed is long overdue! I am hoping to be able to stage in the living room where I take my pictures. I am going to set up a system for locating sold items. It is true, I have no system right now and have been extremely lucky that I haven't lost anything... yet :-o ! Mainly, I am hoping to get my house back!

This is how I want it to look!

* Barn Sale

Speaking of sourcing product, I went to a barn sale last weekend. The two ladies who hold the sale, or two chicks as they like to call themselves, have a passion for auctions and antiques. A couple of times a year in the loft area of a restored 1940's barn they have a sale.

I always look forward to their sales. The ambiance is very warm and inviting, there is a little table with coffee and cake, and the antiques and furniture are displayed an intimate and tempting way. And there are unique treasures everywhere!

One of my best finds at the first sale I attended back in October of 2007, was in a drawer of an old chest full of crystal chandelier parts. Prisms, bobeches, dishes, arms, lots of pieces. At the time, I knew nothing about the collectability of these parts but it just felt like I should buy them... all! And I did, for a great price, about $35! All the pieces were packed up in newspaper and they came home with me and stayed in that box for well over a year.

I recently unpacked every piece. The idea of how to go about listing them was really scary. What I did was break the whole lot into about 25 separate auctions. I found a really great chandelier parts web site to use for research.

I ended up selling 22 of those 25 auctions for about $390!!

I didn't buy too much at last week's barn sale but I did get another box of lamp parts. It is mostly brass fittings and a few glass shades. I am pretty sure I will make back the $10 that I paid. But then again, you never know and like I previously said, I have a lot to learn! :-)

* I have a lot to learn!

The truth is that even though I have been selling for over a year and my business has grown nicely, I still have a lot to learn. Increase traffic to my store, learn new ways to source product to sell, and take advantage of opportunities to make and save money are just a few of the many things that I need to become more savvy about.

This blog is one of the ways I am trying to drive traffic to my store. I am also working on creating a web site with the sole purpose of directing people to my store. EBay has something called a store referral credit that Store sellers are eligible to receive when they successfully drive buyers to their eBay Store directly from a location outside of eBay. This allows me to receive a 75% discount off the final value fees I pay eBay for every sale.

I would also like to find another way to source product other than just garage sales and thrift stores. Two years ago I had never been to either a garage sale or a thrift store! Hard to believe, but true. I don't think I have missed more than a few Saturday morning yard sales in the last year and a half! This past winter the sales were few and far between and merchandise to list ran thin at times.

I feel completely blocked when it comes time to step out of my comfort zone to explore new territory for product. There is an auction every Thursday night not too far from where I live. Talk about comfort zones, that place is terrifying! But... there are some great deals and some awesome items!

I would like to talk about new challenges and new discoveries in this blog. My store is always growing. I currently have about 1900 items listed for sale and my goal is to have 2500 by the end of the summer.

Stay tuned...