Since it looks like it will be about a week before we are able to close on the house I sort of snuck in some ebay auctions last night.

I put up 7 auctions for small items that can be transported to the new house if the buyer ends up being late to pay and I cant mail the item out immediately.

It seems rather ridiculous because my 2009 resolution was to not spend any money earned off ebay this year- so who really cares if I have any auctions running now or 3 months from now?

But I'm feeling panicky. I'm on edge. We have almost no money coming in right now and all our savings accounts will soon have a zero balance. So even though the money cannot be spent- it's a nice feeling to look at one bank account and see a growing balance.

And so far I have $50 in bids on the 7 items!

I never signed up for the ebay challenge because I knew my ebay would be halted for the move and finding a job...but so far I have met the goals anyways.

This morning I listed 10 textbooks on half.com that I had in storage for the last 2 years, and one just sold! I made $19.50!

I am very new to half.com, never bought or sold on it before, so I am hoping for a smooth transaction.

It seems half.com does not make deposits into paypal, (kind of nice not paying pay pal commission) so I will have the money deposited into my checking account.

Although I made a NY Resolution that all ebay money will be saved in the 2009 year- half.com money will be spent because it will be a pain in the ass to withdraw the money from my checking account and put it into my ebay money market.

I am just selling my textbooks on the site, so I will keep half.com money as a little 'fun' money.

only I am taking advantage.

I am packing my lenox china back up. Into the tupperware it goes. Off to sit in storage for a few more years.

Seems Lenox has declared bankruptcy. They filed Chapter 13 last week.

On the off chance that they completely shut down production- I am pulling the lenox from my listings to see if value rises in the future.

Anyone who has broken some lenox china and needs to find replacement items- the china is selling very inexpensively on ebay right now.

In other news- Seems Bratz dolls are infringing on a Mattel product and the Bratz dolls are being recalled immediately. All manufacturing molds and products were ordered to be destroyed. If you have a good condition doll...might want to put that item in storage for a few years too.

So I am starting my November tracking...thought I would start on the ebay. It was a great month!

Started off slow because I got married early this month...but it picked up fast.

Grossed: $4,752
Ebay fees $190
Paypal fees $82
Shipping fees $861 (yeah the post office made out like a bandit!)
Packing supplies $11
-----------------
$3608

All in all- Great month- better than I expected. Every little $5 item really adds up! Go clean out your parents/siblings/childrens attics!

I'm just a tad nervous because I started selling dishes towards the end of the month...the items are hitting buyers homes now...and I'm so scared of broken items! I packed everything as well as I could- but I'm a big worrywart. Big sighs of relief once the feedback starts coming in.

And that was the fun part. Adding up the INCOME. next is adding up the months spending- not so fun.

AND!! The armadillo is still under the house! He's not dead because he evades the traps and still digs up the yard at night!

eBay has slowed down to a point it's agonizing listing items!! WHAT is going on??

3 days ago I listed items all day and as I was listing I was habitually checking my auctions and NOTHING!! No messages, no bids no watchers! So weird- I'm used to lots of action on my stuff.

And the weirdness has continued...the past two days the activity has been really disappointing. 2 days ago all my ending auctions sold for the opening bid...and today 3 of my 5 auctions DIDN'T SELL AT ALL!

I am guessing that people are holding off shopping till black Friday...and they are not even going on ebay to avoid the temptation...

or it's because I stopped selling gift-y items (I ran out/sold it all) like the swarovski and strongwater stuff...I moved onto pottery and dishware. And dishware isn't exactly something you need to spend money on at the holidays.



But I have started listing the Lenox china this week and it's also not taking off as I hoped it would. C'mon eBayers...don't you need china for all your holiday parties? (Though it recently occurred to me that I should have listed Lenox two weeks ago when people would have been looking to have items shipped in time for their Thanksgiving dinners...sigh. you cant win them all.

Oh well...$4 is better than $0 and the place is getting cleared out in preparation to maybe move soon...3 Tupperware bins are empty in the garage...4 more to go!

I am listing like a mad woman on eBay. Once I broke through the "Its only worth a few dollars" barrier I realized I have TONS more things to sell on ebay!

DisneySteve's motto "sell anything that is not nailed down" is my mantra.

BB and I are serious about putting in an offer by christmas and I:

1. dont want to PAY to move all this stuff across state lines

2. every dollar helps!

So I have been going through boxes in the garage. The house looks like a tornado right now but I feel so satisfied that I can ALMOST envision the amount of stuff we will be moving!

Before it was so overwhelming thinking we would be moving bins, boxes and cases of stuff with us only to take it from the garage here and move it into the attic there.

Every listing added makes me feel so much 'free-er'.

BTW- wildlife removal man came by and set armadillo traps. I THINK he will not kill the little guy- he said if we trap him, to move it to our back porch and blanket the trap to keep him warm because its getting cold at night and they don't have much body heat. -So I don't think the man would be concerned with the armadillos comfort only to turn around a kill it.

In a continued effort to clean out the house to prepare for an eventual move when we buy a house...I listed a bunch of broken electronics on eBay today.

Several Sony cameras if anyone needs a broken camera. I don't know who would...but they are on ebay if you want em!

Funny how things just accumulate because an item breaks and it gets stored away instead of being thrown away when it is replaced.

I have a bunch of old cell phones I need to rehome now....

I got nothing big to report so I will blog about a small stroke of luck or the trickery I used to double my ebay earnings today. Not sure which way to interpret the events.

Weeks ago I listed a barbie doll MINT in original box for $10...item did not sell. I was not surprised, this barbie was not selling for $5 in most auctions. (I don't know why I listed the doll for $10 in the face of knowing it would not sell)

I relisted the item again for $10 on the off chance that the Christmas season might draw out a bidder.

Well after 6 days of no bidders or watchers I finally got a bidder 1 day before auction ends.

That night the bidder emails me telling me it is her daughter who placed the bid who did not know the mother already purchased the same doll for a Christmas gift. I tell the woman that if she wins the auction I will file a "mutual retraction" so she does not need to pay for the item. I was too lazy to look up how to cancel a bid and decided to just wait for the auction to end and cancel the transaction then.

Well lo and behold- 10 minutes before the auction ends a person bids on the doll. The bids were unsuccessful because the little girl who hijacked the account bid up to $20.00. So this second bidder bid the barbie all the way up to $21.00!!

So that is my story of how I managed to double my ebay earnings by being lazy...or I used trickery to manipulate someone out there in ebayland into paying double the worth of the item.

I am not sure if it is my lucky day or I should feel guilty.

BB's Xbox 360 has been freezing up and eventually froze up so much BB gave up and bought a new one. Is the old one worth anything to anyone?

I just logged onto my eBay site and there has been a bidder on my most expensive item!! I have listed this item, and a few similar items several several times before with no bids. Always lots of watchers but no one will spend the money...but today someone is feeling rich!!

This will totally throw off my eBay numbers that I calculated a few days ago but IT'S A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE!! Whoohoo! Happy happy dance!

Holy cow I just made $70!

Its 2am...I was peacefully asleep when one of our good friends called to say he just broke up with his girlfriend and was on the road driving 2 hrs to spend a few days with us (he was visiting his girlfriend who lives 9 hrs from him- we were the closest people he knows.)

I was thrilled to see him...but needed to do some cleaning to get the house presentable and his room ready for him. Anyways, he calls back after the vacuming, dusting and mopping is near completion to say the girl is crying...maybe he overreacted-he's turning around to work it out.

Since I am awake- I check my eBay listings. One trinket (the limoge I was asking about earlier) has been quietly making it's way up to $26 over the last several days- tonight suddenly the figurine is at $100!

I have NO CLUE why this item skyrocketed. I searched completed listings and all limoges have sold for $40-$80. 1 limoge sold for $200...but my item doesnt even have original box..and I stated the top is slightly scratched!

I keep re-reading my listing wondering if I accidently said it is made of 14 carot gold or something...

But I'll take it. I was expecting bidding to stop around $40- so this is a nice surprise. I have another limoge listed and sitting at $20...maybe tomorrow night that item will earn me good money too!

Well, I listed about 10 items on ebay yesterday, 3 of the low priced items have a bid so far. The little lion cub Swarovski piece pictured in yesterday's blog has a bid too! 1 person asked me to do a layaway if she bids on one of the expensive items. No problem with that.

She has purchased from me before. I dont think she can really afford to purchase the item (when she purchased from me previously she had to sell some items before she could pay me..and alluded to her husband not allowing her to use paypal.)So it's a bit of an ethical problem. I saw what my mom did (buying useless items using money she didnt really have and later crying about it)and I dont want to contribute to the cycle. But I justify it as- my items are listed on ebay for about 20% of the original price. Even though it's still several hundred dollars- it's a fraction of what this woman would pay in a store. So she IS getting a very good deal- even if it is still a useless item.

So now I am going to start selling my mom's Limoges collection. Anyone know about these? They are little pill boxes originally made in France that royalty had. Now they are still hand painted (I think?) but produced in several different factories (I think?) even though they are still signed "Limoges France". My question is- how do you tell the valuble ones from the cheap ones? There are literally hundreds of thousands of different styles so its impossible to see what an exact limoge is selling for on ebay. Prices range between $5 and $200. Some are signed 'Peint Main' and some are unsigned. Experts seem to know the difference because I listed 2 limoges yesterday- 1 has a bid already and 10 watchers...the other only has 3 watchers. My mom was the type to buy some REALLY high end pieces and then fill the rest of the collection with 'filler' pieces.

I tried to do some reaserch on the limoges, but their royal history is all I could find. I dont know what artists are sought after (some are initialed by the artist) or what shapes are valuble.

Anyone care to educate me- pass it on.