An unexpected end to the year
It's probably no surprise by the time I'm writing this, I was one of the "lucky" ones that caught covid this month. Luckily, the vaccine did its work and I'm still living to tell the tale. Honestly, the illness isn't all that interesting. It was rough for a few days, between fatigue, fever chills, headaches, and a few days without taste.
But what's more important and noteworthy is that I was able to keep my store up and running during the busiest month of the year. My brother, father, and friends each took a turn when a sale happened, picking up the goods from my front stoop and bringing them to the post office. I know it's not the biggest ask, I just couldn't be more grateful.
And because of that little, unexpected side-step, I discovered the need to purge the useless. I had some items sitting on my shelves for years, either due to some incorrect pricing or just plain lack of interest. I had things I since unlisted that I forgot about. Plus, I'll always have that death pile. With all that being said, I used a very strange December to clear it all out. I donated some glassware, a Betty Boop collectible watch box (that took up far too much room), extra Nerf bullets for guns I didn't have, and a ton of toys worth less than $5. Being lucky enough to be successful and profitable this year, I figured it wasn't worth my time to list anything under $5. Back to the thrift store they went!
By the numbers
Spend: $229.46
Net profit: $862.15 (vs. $1,124.32 last month)
Listed on eBay: 27 (vs. 40 last month)
eBay rating: 99.6%
What Sold
Highlights
Show me the money
I've always been good about writing down how much I've spent and made - that's the whole point of reselling anyway, right? But I know my records have always been just slightly off. I could use some better guidance and automation when it came to taxes, fees, and keeping track of everything else, so I finally found time to completely revamp my financial spreadsheet. I was really proud to wrestle with spreadsheet formulas and figure out how to easily crunch fees for certain products and total everything up in a clean format. Plus, I figured why not give it away? I have the spreadsheet document as a template for others as a download.
Blaze bundle
Sometimes, you have all the luck in this thrifting game. I went to the thrifts, like I always do, on one Thursday morning and I found five bags of Blaze and the Monster Machines trucks. They've made tons of variations and some can sell for quite a bit, so when I started noticing a collection scattered among the thrift store toy wall, I kicked it into overdrive! Not to mention, the bags were surprisingly marked low, about $2 for a bag of 3-4. I made the decision to buy now and ask questions later. And I've already sold one, the black Stealth Blaze, to cover most of the cost!
Snowman flip
Another lucky break came earlier in the month when I spotted a Fisher Price Little People snowman. Since I sold off a large collection of Little People months ago, I've always got my eyes peeled for them on the thrift shelves. If they're sold at a decent price point, plenty of people are looking to buy them for their kids. But when I saw a snowman, I knew it was good money. Tis the season! Plus, when I kept looking I found a Santa and Mrs. Claus too! They sold within a few days.
Fresh eyes
Something pulled me to new places in the thrift store this month. I stumbled on gold on separate occasions, once in the CD section and once in the books. I found a multi-disc copy of the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas soundtrack, which sells for about $20. In the books, a DragonLance fantasy novel caught my eye. I sold a pile of them years ago so I knew some of them could have some value. Plus, it was a thick hardcover at that. I sold it within a week of listing, internationally, for $39.95!
Christmas gifts
Christmas was like no other this year. If I'm being honest, it was a bit of a disappointment. Especially to not see the kids in my family - my niece and nephew. But I was lucky enough to gift them some thrifted finds - and they loved them! I gave my niece, Sabrina, a box of My Little Pony dolls (in desperate need of some hair TLC) and my nephew, AJ, a box of various Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Boom!
Fails
Stupid fees
I'm pretty sure my financial spreadsheet has been all over the place wrong for months. I knew I was recording Facebook profits without subtracting fees (just to make everything simpler) but I was also using the wrong eBay fees for the longest time. As an eBay Store subscriber, my final value fee for toys dropped from 12.55% to 11.7%. Just more motivation to create the new template as I did.
Grey background
I still can't figure out how to completely white-balance my product photo backgrounds. Ever since I upgraded my iPhone, it seems the camera is too good for what I want to do. The automatic adjusting inside the multiple cameras tries to take into account my lighting sources and exposure choices and it ends up making the background look grey. You can notice it in some of the photos at the top of the What Sold gallery. Maybe I need to invest in a lightbox.
Going forward
What's there to say? It's been another great year! So many things have been bought, stored, and sold. If these shelves could talk!
As much as I really like setting goals and resolutions, I feel like this section is a bit too heavy for me to promise anything grand right now. I have some ideas about what to begin but all I can hope is that my risks pay off.
At a glance, I want to start teaching more and reselling less. I think I'll always visit the thrift stores. It's far too much fun! But I want to focus this whole endeavor on more of a potential business and I think my strengths lie in serving a community that wants to learn how to do this all. What does that mean? Instagram guides, bi-weekly email marketing, making more friends, asking more questions.
What are we waiting for? Let's go!
