Editing listings and Lucky update

The vintage buttonholder card was tucked into my sewing pattern tub. I have my "kept" patterns down to one small tub (originally 5). 

I have edited half of my 500+ of my eBay listings. I made them all blue dot conforming (see my previous post) and raised the prices. I knew I had under-priced quite a few items but was testing the market to get product moving out the door. As long as I can find CDs for $1 each and sell them for more than $10, I will continue to list them. 

Speaking of CDs, I found my first long box at thrift, a Carole King one to boot. I also found a Peter Frampton Comes Alive! supposedly a high dollar CD. Buying all types of styles and genres really pushes me out of my musical comfort zone. Newest listen is a New Zealand group the Warratahs. I have also picked up a couple of Disney CDs, so I will report if those are movers or not.  

I loaded up on needlework kits and this time I won't price them so low. Here is the best of the bunch. While I love the counted cross stitch ones, they are my least favorite to complete and they seem to the be the most favorite on the eBay listings. I will keep the mallard needlepoint, it even has its hoop included.

Great day for sourcing, I found everything that I deal in - CDs, needlework kits, sewing related books and clothes for myself and the Mr. This $2 scouting vest was in Halloween costumes. I will lot it up with other scout stuff I have been collecting. Here are some of the fun patches on the back of the vest.

Little Lucky update. She is thriving and is kept garage confined until the summer heat and smoke subside. 

I would also like to see her get a little bigger so she can hold her own against our other two cats.

College is in full swing and September means starting a new job!

Called it Right and the Blue Circle in eBay

What I'm talking about is CDs, they continue to sell, especially gospel ones. They sell far and away quicker than any other genre (other than Christmas). 

I got with Google AdSense quite awhile ago and have simply ignored the account and any earnings. I did it more to give my blog more "cache" rather than make money. Lo and behold, I checked my AdSense account and I have garnered nearly $70. Doing nothing. I'm liking this. 

I put myself back in the debt hole buying my laptop and getting a new pair of prescription glasses. I have already made a large payment on the laptop though (proceeds from my reselling). 

Six months since I abruptly began working remotely. So much has changed in my daily routine. Money I would have spent in Sacramento buying coffee, donuts or pastry is now spent locally. When my work day ends, my online college begins. Next in priority is my eBay store. 

I believe in mastering a platform before adding any additional sites. I was ignoring the eBay blue circle listing. When you compose a listing there are numerous fields to fill out. When you complete those fields, the blue dot changes from a blue line around the circle to a solid blue circle. Here is a video from Being Thrifty Over 50 on that subject. 

Page views have shot up, not sure if it is because of these YouTube highlighted videos or not. No bother, I welcome new readers and hope you enjoy my content. I hold hope of moving to an audio blog as a podcaster but I am still on the fence about that. 

So while I was editing each listing to fill in those blue dots, I raised my prices by a third. (Charge for editing time). *chuckles to self* I have over 550 listings with an aggregate value over $7,000. I buy all of my product at 50 cents to two dollars. Now doing this for a year, I have a better sense of what will sell. AND pats self on back, I have made eBay Top Rated Seller status!

Ending with steers in the front yard (we don't own any livestock), escaped from the neighbor's field.

Reselling Funds my Thrifting

Sometimes it is all about You. Thrift shopping is a total indulgence, because hardly any of it is ever Needed, most is certainly Wanted. Like one of these blown glass watering thingees. Always priced too high retail, at 99 cents it now keeps my palm plant, a recent transplant from my old office cubicle, well watered. In fact, now all of my office kitsch has been moved home. I doubt I will decorate my new office space since I won't be in office anyway. 

I also collect leaded glass lamps. As with artwork, I upgrade my lamps also. When I find a higher quality one, I either thrift another one back or keep it to put in another location. 

I have declared it the summer of the Blue Bell Jar. This is the third one I have found in the past three months. The little ceramic bowls are for Lucky. I had been using custard cups for her food and water. 

Finally, in my finds I found clothing, the cutest of which I highlight below. A bubblegum pink corduroy skirt that fits perfectly and a pink cashmere *sings the word* sweater. 

And that box of fabric? There were at least 3 colorways, so I chose one and pulled some orphan blocks. I am going to surprise the gift giver with a quick quilt. One of my most favorite things to do is bring together a quilt top. Right now I am in the "I'm not sure I like what I have done" stage. 

Because of the fire danger, I have moved more of my quilt and needlework projects to my offsite location less fire prone. I am hoping this method will force me to complete projects at home rather than *squirrel* onto something else. 

While I love the idea of podcasting. It is a huge commitment. Ya gotta post content. My newest idea for one is Tami Dances to Disco, have alternating clips in different 70s outfits, a swirling 70s background, and then make up moves like "the butter churn." (laughs to self)

Focusing on the Fabulous

Leading off with Fun Find of the Day - these 3 Grateful Dead poster mugs 69 cents each from Goodwill. Not retro but very cool. 

Where there is smoke, there is fire. Boy howdy, do we have a lot of smoke. We live in a Northern California tinder box, fearful of a fire maelstrom. Nine of the 10 acres burned here five years ago. We can't even escape to the coast because of the you-know-what outbreak. 

Little Lucky kitten update - she is acting more like a kitten now, playing and romping. A nice diversion from all of the stressors that include working remotely, Covid concerns, heat waves, and now excessive air pollution. 

My staycation goal was to make 600 eBay listings. The total now stands at 560 - all the new ones being sewing patterns. Now I have to wait for September promotion fixed price listings to continue. I have enough in my death pile from a recent sourcing trip to Folsom, California with the usual sewing patterns and needlework kits. There is a Star Wars costume pattern (yay) and I thought I would venture into Halloween items. 

 

It must be the Summer of the Blue Ball Jar, finding yet another one, complete with its wire closure.

This group of vintage books will most certainly sell. I kept both the blue 1972 Singer Sewing manual and the Cookie Jar encyclopedia. Three jars that I have are listed in the book.  

I admit I am buying more. Nothing worse than a pandemic shutdown to trigger a hoarder. One of my mother's friends also sent me an entire box of beautiful fabric! I am going to spin a sweet and simple quilt for her. A total surprise.

I am binding minimalist plaid quilt so its glamour shots in the wild will be soon. 

College has begun and I couldn't be happier. No, I am not sending my kid away to college, I have gone back to school. Since it is all an online learning platform, it is ideal for me. 

It is good to be student. Amazon Prime is just $6.50 a month for students (6 mos. free) (this is not an ad). I have had numerous tax incentives over the years too. But back to prime, there are numerous programs we haven't seen that are offered through this service. We had about run out of things to watch on Netflix and Hulu. This also gives my 92 year old mother, who I place orders for, more items with free shipping. She also got to order a fashionable bejeweled face mask only offered through Prime. She was delighted.

Pattern is the Day are these Cafe Curtains from 1957. Another one of my keeper patterns found today.

Pattern Listing Day and eBay store categories

Had our pooch not hurt herself (meaning an emergency trip to the vet), I would not have stumbled onto a thrift shop half off sale after I dropped her off. Sewing patterns, needlework kits and a Tink Disney mug, my 2nd Disney find of the week. Day3 of the Von Zalez Staycation means afternoons devoted to sewing pattern listing. I am very much an outdoors person but not in 100+ degree heat. 

Here is this darling of a unfinished counted cross stitch that was listed. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184410568923

This 1965 bathrobe pattern is a keeper. All of those from the 1960s and earlier I keep. Call it nostalgia, maybe even foresight, but I am not letting those go right now. There is a 60s hairstyle, a bun on top of a bouffant on the blonde in front.

I continue to refine my eBay selling techniques. Here is a recent YouTube tutorial on organizing your product into categories. This also shows you how to bulk search your listings, something I couldn't figure out previously.

The new Dell XPS 15 laptop arrived and it. is. beautiful. 15" sleek. It couldn't have arrived at a better time, college starts up in a few days. Financed through Dell, hoping a stimulus check and a pay raise will have it paid off within the year if not sooner. 

Here is a Disney toy recently listed. Will my 49 cent investment in this toy pay off?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184410416238

Doll Day on the Midway

The Stupsi doll pair sold listed for around a year, I bought them for $1.50 each, I sold the pair for $40. If I had children in my life, I would have kept them. 

And wouldn't cha know, the same day I sold the Stupsis, I found this mystery bag of dolls for $2.99 at thrift. They looked a little bedraggled but promising. I think the one in the middle is a strawberry shortcake. Some have had a "little" hair trimming done. 

The lineup pre-cleaned. 

The group cleaned up quickly by putting them delicate cycle in a lingerie bag with all of their clothing left on. 

I used to have a doll like the one on the far left. She is joining my patriotic collection and will be further festooned in red, white and blue. Doll in the middle has punk-out potential and other than what little is left of her hair, all of her costuming is intact. The others will be listed for sale. 

I am starting to see the other resellers. I rarely hit thrift during the week but it is Staycation Week in the Von Zalez household. The others snag the quality stuff. I was a few minutes too late on a well executed oil on canvas floral. Made my heart ache. 

Fun Find of the Day - a Prince The Hits 2 CD. I have always been a fan but never bought any of his recordings. It is a happy Tami day when I find his music secondhand. 

My latest collecting obsession, sheet music and music compilations for guitar and vocals. This 99 cent gem is a forever keeper. I have been collecting violin music for many years now. When I played the violin, I recall how expensive sheet music was (and still is). 

I've been rearranging my remote workspace (aka the spare bedroom). This cross stitch was initially under glass and framed in gold. The frame broke and is being fixed. I took the opportunity to re-frame the hibiscus flowers in a glass-free traditional wood frame (pointing the right direction). 

Have you been rearranging your living space? Doing home improvement projects? 

Ending with a BOLO wooden alphabet blocks ($1.99). These Sesame Street ones I predict will go quick, being sold as a lot with other wooden blocks. I also picked up an adorable working 50 cent Disney toy I will highlight on my next post. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184407630439

Sourcing and Potentially Podcasting

A frantic round of sourcing to beat the 100+ degree produced another 25 CDs to list and a few more sewing patterns. I have found my niche. I am getting better at spotting the imported CDs which bring more $$. I am also rediscovering music from the late 90s, bands I will listen to while ripping to my laptop and think, "Oh, yeah, I remember them!" (like The Proclaimers). 

Gospel music continues to be a good seller for me. It helps that I know what to look for. Those into gospel, remember Andrae Crouch and the Disciples? There was one group I hadn't heard in awhile. I've linked to one of their performance at the end of the post. 

After I pull any CDs I think might sell, I sit on a couch in the store and search the Google shopping for the titles. 

As I list more, I end more clothing listings. Maybe those items are just slow movers, I get impatient with them. Clothing is at the end of its heyday anyway. We will need less because we will be appearing in person less often. I know I like to dress up for work. If I am only going to be in one or two days a week, that will require one or two outfits, not 5 for the week. Social events, when will those resume? It's anyone's guess. Might as well sell the mink. 

Fun Find of the Day: This is my second duck decoy I have found thrifting. The first one I found while visiting Washington state. 

New kitten update. She was around 4 weeks when we found her. She was battling mites, fleas and worms and has been treated for all of those. Little Lucky has a Buddha belly right now but that will even out. 

And onto my new favorite subject - Podcasting. 

It looks like it might be time to move platforms from blogging to podcasting. I have enjoyed blogging but it is like hollering into a tunnel and getting no response. Very one way. 

I need to learn more about the process. This really is cutting edge. More and more people will be turning to online broadcasts. Edison Research reports that the number of American tuning into podcasts have increased 175% over the last five years. I know I am one of them. The Mr. listens to The Joe Rogan Experience and I Jason T. Smith. I predict an explosive increase in podcasts as we all have to home isolate for who knows how long. 

The Mr. is NOT on board with the idea of me starting a podcast. He thinks it should be high tech with earphones and special lighting. I think it should be low tech with just the minimum of hardware broadcasting from my remote workspace. We'll see. 

Ending the post with Andrae. I have all vacation week to convince myself to take the podcasting plunge. I have six episodes in pre-planning stage and am reaching out to a friend for a interview-based podcast.