I have made no secret of my love/hate relationship with coupons. I lack the discipline to sit down and cut them all, file them, and then weed through them when they are past their expiration date. I have tried just marking the date on the packages of coupons and keeping the inserts whole, but that doesn’t seem to work either.
However, recently I have found something that does work for me—buying coupons on eBay. Each Tuesday when I receive the new store fliers, I see if there are any items I need, such as the cat food I bought last week. Then, I look on eBay for the coupons. Most coupons can be had very cheaply on eBay, averaging 7 to 10 cents per coupon. Some sellers also offer free shipping.
I also go to A Full Cup and check CVS and Walgreens there. They list the ads for CVS and Walgreens (and plenty of other stores) a week or two in advance. In addition, people match up the coupons with the sales, so once again I know what I am looking for on Ebay.
Once on eBay, I just type in the name of the coupon, for instance, “Purina One Cat Food coupon”. When buying the coupons, read the auction carefully. You want to check the expiration date, and make sure the coupon comes from the newspaper; I would not advise buying a coupon the seller printed off the Internet. I tend to not bid on coupon auctions because I don’t want to wait for the end date. Instead, I buy coupons at a fixed price so I can buy it now. I have had good luck with sellers sending me the coupons within a few days, well in advance of the end of the sale. Of course, make sure the seller has high feedback.
I think my relationship with coupons may be improving. Hopefully there are more sales combined with coupons in my future. Works for me!
I shared this post at Works for Me Wednesday.
Showing posts with label eBay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eBay. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Make Money Selling Your Kids' Clothes on Ebay, Part 2
This is the second in a two part series about selling your kids' clothes on eBay. For the first part, go here.
When you sell your kids' clothes, there are several ways you can maximize your earnings:
Presentation
-Make sure all of the clothes are clean and wrinkle free.
-Carefully look them over to find any stains or tears. When writing up the auction, make sure to clearly state what defects are in the clothing and take a picture of those defects.
-Take pictures in good light so buyers can see the clothing in detail
-Outfits almost always sell better than individual pieces of clothing
-When listing your clothes, try to have several available in the same size. Let’s say you have two daughters; the oldest one has outgrown her size 8 clothes, the youngest her size 6 clothes. Rather than listing them as you can, focus on one daughter’s clothing first. Create auctions or fixed price listings for all of your daughter’s size 8 clothes first and then move on to the size 6 or vice versa. If someone likes some of your items in size 8, they are likely to look at the rest of the auctions and see if you have more things to sell in that size that they would like to buy. Why? Because the buyer almost always pays less in shipping this way.
Shipping
-Offer shipping discounts. For example, state in your listing that each additional item is only $2 to be shipped. If a person buys one item from you and pays $3.50 in shipping, only charge them $2 more for the next item they buy. So, if they buy two items from you and they are shipped together, instead of paying $7 ($3.50 for each listing they buy), they will only pay $5.50 in shipping. The more they buy the better bargain it is for them with shipping. This encourages a buyer to purchase more than one item from you.
-Let the buyer know the maximum they will pay for shipping. To ship a priority large size flat rate box in the US, shipping is $13.95. You can let the buyer know that is the maximum they will pay for shipping. So, if they buy 5 outfits from you, as long as they all fit in a large flat rate box, they will only have to pay $13.95.
-Give a reasonable shipping cost. List what the shipping cost actually is. A shirt might cost $2.85 to ship first class; don’t give a shipping price of $5.00. You will lose many potential bidders who do not want to pay inflated shipping costs.
Pay attention to end times
-If you live on the east coast and have your auction end at 8 p.m. in your time zone, it will only be 5 p.m. on the west coast; you could potentially miss out on many bidders. Try to end your auctions so it is at least 7 p.m. on the west coast and 11 p.m. on the east coast.
-There is a way to have all of your auctions end at the same time. If you are going to list with the auction format, I do not recommend this. Some people like to bid on multiple items and they wait until there is about 30 seconds left in the auction to place their bid. This is called sniping (sp.), and a buyer can’t do it if all of your auctions end at the same time. Spread out your auction ending times, if only buy a few minutes.
And there you have it, a quick tutorial on selling your kids’ clothes on eBay. If you have any more questions, please leave me a comment or e-mail me privately.
When you sell your kids' clothes, there are several ways you can maximize your earnings:
Presentation
-Make sure all of the clothes are clean and wrinkle free.
-Carefully look them over to find any stains or tears. When writing up the auction, make sure to clearly state what defects are in the clothing and take a picture of those defects.
-Take pictures in good light so buyers can see the clothing in detail
-Outfits almost always sell better than individual pieces of clothing
-When listing your clothes, try to have several available in the same size. Let’s say you have two daughters; the oldest one has outgrown her size 8 clothes, the youngest her size 6 clothes. Rather than listing them as you can, focus on one daughter’s clothing first. Create auctions or fixed price listings for all of your daughter’s size 8 clothes first and then move on to the size 6 or vice versa. If someone likes some of your items in size 8, they are likely to look at the rest of the auctions and see if you have more things to sell in that size that they would like to buy. Why? Because the buyer almost always pays less in shipping this way.
Shipping
-Offer shipping discounts. For example, state in your listing that each additional item is only $2 to be shipped. If a person buys one item from you and pays $3.50 in shipping, only charge them $2 more for the next item they buy. So, if they buy two items from you and they are shipped together, instead of paying $7 ($3.50 for each listing they buy), they will only pay $5.50 in shipping. The more they buy the better bargain it is for them with shipping. This encourages a buyer to purchase more than one item from you.
-Let the buyer know the maximum they will pay for shipping. To ship a priority large size flat rate box in the US, shipping is $13.95. You can let the buyer know that is the maximum they will pay for shipping. So, if they buy 5 outfits from you, as long as they all fit in a large flat rate box, they will only have to pay $13.95.
-Give a reasonable shipping cost. List what the shipping cost actually is. A shirt might cost $2.85 to ship first class; don’t give a shipping price of $5.00. You will lose many potential bidders who do not want to pay inflated shipping costs.
Pay attention to end times
-If you live on the east coast and have your auction end at 8 p.m. in your time zone, it will only be 5 p.m. on the west coast; you could potentially miss out on many bidders. Try to end your auctions so it is at least 7 p.m. on the west coast and 11 p.m. on the east coast.
-There is a way to have all of your auctions end at the same time. If you are going to list with the auction format, I do not recommend this. Some people like to bid on multiple items and they wait until there is about 30 seconds left in the auction to place their bid. This is called sniping (sp.), and a buyer can’t do it if all of your auctions end at the same time. Spread out your auction ending times, if only buy a few minutes.
And there you have it, a quick tutorial on selling your kids’ clothes on eBay. If you have any more questions, please leave me a comment or e-mail me privately.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Make Money Selling Your Kids' Clothes on Ebay - Part 1
Have your children outgrown their school clothes from last year? If so, instead of having a garage sale, consider selling them on eBay. Depending on the brand of clothing, you could make much more money this way.
The Selling Season
July through September are the optimal selling time for fall clothing because parents are gearing up for their children going back to school. They are looking for high quality used outfits, jeans, dresses, long sleeve shirts, etc. If you can’t list every thing at once, save sweaters and holiday clothes for September or October; that is the optimal selling season for those items.
Items to Sell
I have found the best brand of kids’ clothes to sell on eBay include Gymboree, Gap, and Hanna Andersson. (See my article here about how to buy name brand kids’ clothes on the cheap.) Backpacks and lunch boxes that are still in good shape also sell well.
How to Get Started
If you don’t have one already, open up an eBay account. E-bay has an excellent tutorial about how to list your items for sale; if you have never done this before, follow the tutorial.
There are two basic formats for listing your items up for sale:
Auction
This is a great strategy if you just want the clothes out of the house and want to make money quickly. I would not recommend starting the auction at .99 cents; unfortunately, far too many auctions only increase a bit from this starting point. Instead, settle on a starting price a little lower than what you would like to earn for the item. For instance, if I have my son’s shirt up for sale that is in very good condition, I might want to make $6 from it. I will start the auction at $3.99. Most auctions run for 3 to 7 days; I always choose 7 days. The drawback to listing as an auction is that you may not get quite what you think the item is worth.
Fixed Price
You can choose to list your item for a fixed price. This strategy is good if you don’t care that it might take awhile to sell your item; you want to make sure to get what you think it is worth. Let’s take the shirt that I mentioned previously; I believe it is worth $6, so I will list it at a fixed price of $5.99. If someone wants to buy it, they will have to pay me that price. You can put fixed price auctions up for as few as 1 to 3 days, but I recommend choosing the full 30 days for maximum exposure. The drawback to this type of auction is that if you have your item priced too high, it won’t sell and you will still need to pay listing fees.
Read the second part of this series, Maximizing the Money You Can Earn
The Selling Season
July through September are the optimal selling time for fall clothing because parents are gearing up for their children going back to school. They are looking for high quality used outfits, jeans, dresses, long sleeve shirts, etc. If you can’t list every thing at once, save sweaters and holiday clothes for September or October; that is the optimal selling season for those items.
Items to Sell
I have found the best brand of kids’ clothes to sell on eBay include Gymboree, Gap, and Hanna Andersson. (See my article here about how to buy name brand kids’ clothes on the cheap.) Backpacks and lunch boxes that are still in good shape also sell well.
How to Get Started
If you don’t have one already, open up an eBay account. E-bay has an excellent tutorial about how to list your items for sale; if you have never done this before, follow the tutorial.
There are two basic formats for listing your items up for sale:
Auction
This is a great strategy if you just want the clothes out of the house and want to make money quickly. I would not recommend starting the auction at .99 cents; unfortunately, far too many auctions only increase a bit from this starting point. Instead, settle on a starting price a little lower than what you would like to earn for the item. For instance, if I have my son’s shirt up for sale that is in very good condition, I might want to make $6 from it. I will start the auction at $3.99. Most auctions run for 3 to 7 days; I always choose 7 days. The drawback to listing as an auction is that you may not get quite what you think the item is worth.
Fixed Price
You can choose to list your item for a fixed price. This strategy is good if you don’t care that it might take awhile to sell your item; you want to make sure to get what you think it is worth. Let’s take the shirt that I mentioned previously; I believe it is worth $6, so I will list it at a fixed price of $5.99. If someone wants to buy it, they will have to pay me that price. You can put fixed price auctions up for as few as 1 to 3 days, but I recommend choosing the full 30 days for maximum exposure. The drawback to this type of auction is that if you have your item priced too high, it won’t sell and you will still need to pay listing fees.
Read the second part of this series, Maximizing the Money You Can Earn
Monday, May 10, 2010
Buying Kids' Clothes on Ebay
My son outgrew every single piece of summer clothing that he had from last year. However, I didn’t rush out to buy him new clothes at the first hint of warm weather. I am taking my time building his summer wardrobe to try to get the best price available.
One resource I use is eBay. The buying season for summer clothes on eBay begins as early as February and hits its peak in March and April. Now that it is May, many people already have their children’s summer wardrobe in place. That means now is the perfect time to buy kids’ clothes at a reduced price.
I always buy brand name clothes on eBay because I know that once my kids outgrow them I can turn around and sell them on eBay for the same price (or sometimes more!) I wrote an article about how to do just that here.
I type into the search box, “Gymboree 6” because that is the size I am looking for. Then I refine the search to “Children’s Clothing” and “Boys Clothing Size 4-18” so I don’t get listings for girl’s clothes or baby boy’s clothes in size 6-12 months. Then I refine it further to size 6. All of these search limiters can be found on the left hand side of the screen.
To further refine, I choose the tab for “auctions only” (because those usually offer the lowest price). Finally, on the left hand side I choose “time ending soonest” under the sort by window. Doing this narrowed my search field from 1976 items to 135.
I usually do not buy brand new items. Instead, I read the descriptions and look for items that are in very good condition without rips, stains or tears. If my son is gentle with them during the summer, it is easy to sell them at the same price I bought them for, essentially dressing him for free.
I always decide in my mind how much I want to pay per item. Usually, I try to pay $2 - $4 per item. However, I always figure in the price of shipping. For example, if there are 5 pieces of clothing for sale in an auction, and I determine I only want to spend $2 per piece, that gives me a limit of $10. If shipping is $5, I know I don’t want to spend any more than $5 for the auction itself, because combined with shipping, it will add up to $10.
Bid at the last minute, literally. Some people bid on auctions early; all this seems to do is drive up the price. I wait until there are only 30 to 40 seconds left in the auction before I place my bid at the designated price I have already decided is the maximum I am willing to spend. So, if the bids are at $1.95, I still enter my price of $5.00 (even though I could bid as little as $2.45) because if the other bidder has entered a final price higher than $1.95, I may be able to outbid them with my $5.00 price.
Be careful not to go above your designated bidding price. Be willing to walk away from an auction if it is above the price you want to pay.
Finally, consider looking at the seller’s other items. Often, sellers combine shipping if you buy more than one auction from them. That is a way to help keep your costs down.
Happy shopping!
I shared this post at Works for Me Wednesday.
One resource I use is eBay. The buying season for summer clothes on eBay begins as early as February and hits its peak in March and April. Now that it is May, many people already have their children’s summer wardrobe in place. That means now is the perfect time to buy kids’ clothes at a reduced price.
I always buy brand name clothes on eBay because I know that once my kids outgrow them I can turn around and sell them on eBay for the same price (or sometimes more!) I wrote an article about how to do just that here.
I type into the search box, “Gymboree 6” because that is the size I am looking for. Then I refine the search to “Children’s Clothing” and “Boys Clothing Size 4-18” so I don’t get listings for girl’s clothes or baby boy’s clothes in size 6-12 months. Then I refine it further to size 6. All of these search limiters can be found on the left hand side of the screen.
To further refine, I choose the tab for “auctions only” (because those usually offer the lowest price). Finally, on the left hand side I choose “time ending soonest” under the sort by window. Doing this narrowed my search field from 1976 items to 135.
I usually do not buy brand new items. Instead, I read the descriptions and look for items that are in very good condition without rips, stains or tears. If my son is gentle with them during the summer, it is easy to sell them at the same price I bought them for, essentially dressing him for free.
I always decide in my mind how much I want to pay per item. Usually, I try to pay $2 - $4 per item. However, I always figure in the price of shipping. For example, if there are 5 pieces of clothing for sale in an auction, and I determine I only want to spend $2 per piece, that gives me a limit of $10. If shipping is $5, I know I don’t want to spend any more than $5 for the auction itself, because combined with shipping, it will add up to $10.
Bid at the last minute, literally. Some people bid on auctions early; all this seems to do is drive up the price. I wait until there are only 30 to 40 seconds left in the auction before I place my bid at the designated price I have already decided is the maximum I am willing to spend. So, if the bids are at $1.95, I still enter my price of $5.00 (even though I could bid as little as $2.45) because if the other bidder has entered a final price higher than $1.95, I may be able to outbid them with my $5.00 price.
Be careful not to go above your designated bidding price. Be willing to walk away from an auction if it is above the price you want to pay.
Finally, consider looking at the seller’s other items. Often, sellers combine shipping if you buy more than one auction from them. That is a way to help keep your costs down.
Happy shopping!
I shared this post at Works for Me Wednesday.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Decluttering the Living Room
One of my goals before the baby comes is to declutter the house. Our living room serves as livingroom/diningroom/playroom, so it gets cluttered easily. In addition, my 17 month old loves to look at her books and rip them. (Seriously, my son never did this, but she loves to tear up books, even cardboard ones. Do other kids do this?) Every time she started to rip a book we just shoved it somewhere higher on the book shelf, which is part of the reason we had the disaster in the first picture:
BEFORE:
My son's books are on the second shelf, but we had to pack them in tightly so my daughter couldn't pull them out or she would rip every single one. The end result, though, is that my son also has a hard time getting his own books out, so I cleared out the entire second shelf and will make room for the books in his room, where he can read in peace.
I also found several items to sell on eBay and some to put on paperback swap. I filled a box with items for the garage sale and recycled quite a few items. Here is the end result:
AFTER:
The next area to tackle was their toy area.
BEFORE:
I weeded through quite a few unused items and added them to the garage sale pile. I also spread out the toys, putting my daughter's stuffed animals on the second shelf where my son's books used to be and creating a separate bin for all of the baby rattles, etc. I also put some toys (the big ones) up for awhile as they hardly get played with. I will probably bring them out in a few weeks so they will feel "new" to the kids. Here is the final result:
AFTER:
BEFORE:
My son's books are on the second shelf, but we had to pack them in tightly so my daughter couldn't pull them out or she would rip every single one. The end result, though, is that my son also has a hard time getting his own books out, so I cleared out the entire second shelf and will make room for the books in his room, where he can read in peace.
I also found several items to sell on eBay and some to put on paperback swap. I filled a box with items for the garage sale and recycled quite a few items. Here is the end result:
AFTER:
The next area to tackle was their toy area.
BEFORE:
I weeded through quite a few unused items and added them to the garage sale pile. I also spread out the toys, putting my daughter's stuffed animals on the second shelf where my son's books used to be and creating a separate bin for all of the baby rattles, etc. I also put some toys (the big ones) up for awhile as they hardly get played with. I will probably bring them out in a few weeks so they will feel "new" to the kids. Here is the final result:
AFTER:
It feels so nice to have this cluttered space cleaner. I still have to do deep spring cleaning (hoping my mom will help me with this), but I think I am off to a good start.
I shared this post at Money Saving Mom.
I shared this post at Money Saving Mom.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Business Goals, 2010, Part I
Now that my husband and I have made the decision that I should quit work after baby #3 is born even though he does not yet have his Ph.D., I must ramp up my side line income possibilities. Here are my goals for 2009.
eBayPay Down Business Credit Card Debt
I have been running an eBay store since 2006. Unfortunately, when I started, I didn’t take it slowly; I wanted to build up my inventory overnight. I did, but I also built up quite a bit of credit card debt. That debt is keeping me from drawing an income from the business. My first financial goal is to pay off 50% of the debt sometime between April and June of this year. Then, I would like to have the debt entirely paid off by December, 2011.
List Inventory
I have a lot of inventory sitting around my study that has not been listed on eBay yet. I would like to have it all listed by the time the baby comes in April; I am not sure yet if that is possible. I will have to see how busy I am at my day job in the next few months. Certainly I want it all listed by December.
Curb Spending
I have trouble resisting a good sale. I must seriously curb spending this year both to pay off debt and get my inventory all listed. I am going to set a goal of no more than $4000 purchased for reinvestment in the business this year.
Keep Up with the Accounting & Learn to Do More of It Myself
I am lucky that my cousin is an accountant and is willing to do my books pro-bono. The problem is that she lives 3 hours away. We always seem to scramble to get everything done by tax time. This year, I would like to do more of the accounting myself and try to keep up with it on a month by month basis.
Set & Maintain a Schedule
When I returned back to work in August, things were crazy and I let many of my business responsibilities slide (such as keeping up with the books). In the end, this makes more work, so I plan to implement a schedule to keep things on track.
By the summer, draw an income from the business
Tomorrow I will list the rest of my business goals (not related to eBay).
eBayPay Down Business Credit Card Debt
I have been running an eBay store since 2006. Unfortunately, when I started, I didn’t take it slowly; I wanted to build up my inventory overnight. I did, but I also built up quite a bit of credit card debt. That debt is keeping me from drawing an income from the business. My first financial goal is to pay off 50% of the debt sometime between April and June of this year. Then, I would like to have the debt entirely paid off by December, 2011.
List Inventory
I have a lot of inventory sitting around my study that has not been listed on eBay yet. I would like to have it all listed by the time the baby comes in April; I am not sure yet if that is possible. I will have to see how busy I am at my day job in the next few months. Certainly I want it all listed by December.
Curb Spending
I have trouble resisting a good sale. I must seriously curb spending this year both to pay off debt and get my inventory all listed. I am going to set a goal of no more than $4000 purchased for reinvestment in the business this year.
Keep Up with the Accounting & Learn to Do More of It Myself
I am lucky that my cousin is an accountant and is willing to do my books pro-bono. The problem is that she lives 3 hours away. We always seem to scramble to get everything done by tax time. This year, I would like to do more of the accounting myself and try to keep up with it on a month by month basis.
Set & Maintain a Schedule
When I returned back to work in August, things were crazy and I let many of my business responsibilities slide (such as keeping up with the books). In the end, this makes more work, so I plan to implement a schedule to keep things on track.
By the summer, draw an income from the business
Tomorrow I will list the rest of my business goals (not related to eBay).
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