Cool Vintage Estate Sale Finds...

Until I started selling on eBay I had absolutely no interest in going to yard or estate sales. I still hate getting out of bed before the sun comes up on Saturday mornings to go to these sales. But I really enjoy finding interesting things to sell!

Estate sales are the most fun! Many times the prices are too high but even those sales have tables with odds and ends that are affordable and end up being the perfect find.

A few weeks ago I went to one of these sales.They had beautiful china and glassware but way too expensive for me. I continued through all the rooms and found these adorable vintage aprons and tablecloth on a table, in a spare bedroom of all places.



They were at auction on eBay last week with lots of watchers. They didn't sell so they are now in my eBay store Sales by Trudy waiting for the right person. Just click on any one of these three items to look at it and the description of it in my store.

A while back, again in a spare bedroom of another house holding an estate sale, were tables with the most awesome vintage ladies hats. Many were very pricey so I chose a selection of a few of the more reasonably priced ones. How fun are these...



Again, just click on either one of these pictures to see my actual store listing and more pictures.

There was also a really cool turban hat that I just sold yesterday.



Isn't that just too mid century chic! And how do you like the "head" that I am using for the picture? It is an old hat form that I was going to sell, until I realized - I need it!

These are just a few examples of the really cool vintage items in my eBay store that I found at estate sales and garage sales, too. Stay tuned, I go out every Saturday morning... and I also have lots of really neat items already in my store from previous excursions that I still want to tell you about. :o)

Live Boot Camp with the Queen!

This coming September marks the beginning of my 3rd year of seriously selling on eBay. I am celebrating the occasion with a return to "eBay 3-Day LIVE Boot Camp" with The Queen of Auctions - Lynn Dralle. This Boot Camp is a three day seminar in Palm Springs covering everything about selling on eBay, and I mean everything, even including field trips to real garage sales!

I first heard of Lynn "The Queen of Auctions" Dralle in March of 2007. I subscribe to the Kovels Komments weekly email newsletter and they were running a special on one of Lynn's "100 Best Things I've Sold on eBay" books. I was very interested in figuring out how to sell on eBay and bought the book. That was when I became aware of everything Lynn had to offer. I immediately subscribed to her ezine and was blown away by all that I learned from just reading about her experiences. She has a very positive outlook and makes eBay fun!

Then I signed up for her on line course which takes you step-by-step through everything you need to know about starting to sell on eBay. I learned so much!

I began to "dabble", listing things that I found from around my house. Thinking back on that time, I spent a lot of money on eBay fees! My starting prices were usually under $5 and I kept things at auction for weeks, basically until they sold because I didn't have a store... yet.

I was having so much fun but I was also stressed because I wasn't making much money. When I heard about the Boot Camp, it was the next logical step... and I was ready for it! My dabbling had me exposed enough to pretty much know what I needed to learn so I went to Boot Camp ready! My goal was to soak up everything I could and finally open my eBay store - Sales by Trudy.

I feel grateful to have found Lynn. She helped me get started on this journey and has also been there along the way. I am really looking forward to this upcoming eBay 3-Day LIVE Boot Camp to not only learn more but to see Lynn again because I consider her to be a good friend as well as my eBay mentor.

Unexpectedly good day!

I always prepare for Saturday yard sales on Friday and this week I chose only a few of what looked like the best sales because I wasn't sure how early I would be able to get started. My horses were down to their last bale of hay and delivery was scheduled for this morning. I only get hay about once every 9 months so it is an appointment that I can't miss.

The truck pulled in bright and early and they unloaded pretty fast so I was able to head out by 10 o'clock, leaving me only about 2 hours of shopping. I didn't want to waste time so I drove by some yard sales where I normally would have stopped to look. At about 11:30, way out in the little town of Federalsburg MD, I almost drove right by a little house with a little front yard just full of electronic looking stuff.

When I saw all the old radios, I knew I had to buy them, even if they didn't work! There are lots of collectors out there who either like to display or tinker or need parts, so I chose an assortment. And there were a lot to choose from.


There was also an old Zenith TV front with the curved glass that I couldn't resist.


I don't know how I am going to ship this thing if it sells! ;o) I am excited to start researching. This is the kind of stuff that I love to list.

After starting so late and driving so far, today turned out to be very invigorating! Be sure to check out my eBay store "Sales by Trudy" in the upcoming weeks to see what happens with these fun vintage items.

A very frustrating day...

This has been a very frustrating day! I only have two packages to ship today. One is going to Poland so I have to take it to the Post Office and the other is just a UPS Ground pickup. I also have a few errands to run so the plan was to do my packing and head into town.

Not going to happen. I first noticed the problem with PayPal. I got in but it timed out when I tried to turn a page. I tried a few times and decided that I should proceed with the UPS label, so I tried to go back to eBay. No luck there either. I kept trying because sometimes the problem can be a "hiccup". It wasn't. I always assume it is my problem so I restarted my computer. Didn't help. I located a few emails that I had received from eBay (I don't have their email address - it is on the website!) so I sent some emails to them to ask about the problem. One was returned. I Googled "eBay support telephone number" and after a very frustrating menu I finally spoke to someone about 1 1/2 hours ago.

I was first told that the problem should be resolved in 24 hours. I asked if that was fair to my buyers since I advised in my listing (per eBay's own mandate) that items will be shipped within 2 business days. I was put on hold for quite some time and then advised that they were working on the problem and it should be resolved within an hour or the phone support person would call me back.

That was over 1 1/2 hours ago. I had a lot to do today and thinking that the problem would go away sooner, I haven't started anything else. I could take pictures but that requires some set up and I was going to take pictures this afternoon after the errands.

Errands are my very least favorite thing to do. In fact, I hate running errands! I had my day fairly well planned and I am really really irritated by this ebay problem!

Just had to get that off my chest... thank you for listening!

To follow up on the above mini rant, eBay was working again as soon as I finished the post. I should have written it earlier! } :o)