Wow...

Over a month since I posted. Wouldn't have believed that could happen...

Anyway, been buzy... the house sprung a leak under the slab, so that had to be taken care of, and then the stall at the market in Ft. Worth has to be moved... which will increase sales, it's just the timing could be better... moving up to the front window...

and then of course there is the continuing trauma on the ebay feedback board... One of our favorite(NOT) trolls has come back with yet a new incarnation... LeRoy is back is the name she's using now. Was once badleroybrown, attorneyalice and a whole slew of pinkrose, yellowrose, redrose names. Just shows up, performs a few illegal actions like posting another users information, then gets kicked off until the next id.

Gotta love those talking sock id's...

Don't really have the time to mess with this right now... when it rains it pours...

And of course, the cats and the dog are always here to keep me cheered up.

Will start listing in the store again soon... Later...

Well, did we survive the holidays?

Not sure I did.

Actually, spent Christmas blessedly alone...

except for two cats and a dog... played all those CD's I have that drive everyone else crazy and had one of the most relaxing days of my life...

Anyway, been listing like crazy over the last couple of days...

check it out if you're interested...

http://stores.ebay.com/luckypennyfleamarket

really, just a drive by post today...

got to gear up....

Well, the truth of the matter is that I'm just not listing like I used to... but there is some stuff happening... between running around getting Christmas stuff, and getting the new market stall stocked, and trying to deal with crazy siblings... well, ebay just didn't get the attention it deserves. But I'll be listing today... and we'll see what happens...

Everything just seems to be a bit more of a chore than it has to be right now...

I know people who publicly declare themselves Pagan every Thanksgiving so they don't have to deal with Christmas. I'm starting to understand them... Anyway, I guess I'll just spare the blog-world from my ranting...

Well, I'm back....

wow, haven't posted in a while. Been busy. Off to stock up a new stall in Forrests Antiques and More, and listing on ebay has suffered while I've been running around...

anyway, it's not much of a stall, just an 8 x 9, but you'd be amazed at how much stuff you can fit in one of those...

listing driftwood for you reptile fans... you'll need it for those vivariums, or reptile cages, or whatever we're calling them this week, and I'll have a nice hand-tooled leather vest, as soon as I get the pics took, and there's always that stuff that you just list to see what happens...

Gearing up for Christmas.

Not looking forward to it...

getting ready for thansgiving...

Well, we're not cooking for Thanksgiving, so you'd think it would be nice and calm, right... No way. The Store suddenly has china sales... I guess people just got out the holiday china and realized that they had pieces missing. Of course, there's no way in hell it's gonna get there in time for Thanksgiving, but I guess they want it for next year...

Anyway, we're going to a restaraunt this year.

I don't want to cook, Mom isn't up to cooking, and of course my Sister ain't gonna cook, and even if she did I wouldn't be invited, so we're going to a restaraunt.

Don't know why. Never really liked Turkey anyway.

But I am wishing everybody out there a wonderful Thanksgiving, and hoping you have a great holiday season...

Well, It seems that everything is working out OK. Crazy lady went poof, her auctions got pulled, and most of my friends survived the board. It was all very distracting... I'm afraid I gave too much of my time to the drama and not enough to listing... But I will be listing most of today and tomorrow...

business, this time of year, is slow... But I will just have to keep plugging along...

anyway, there isn't much to do about it, but keep listing and hope that everything starts to pick up...

We are moving into Christmas... so maybe some shoppers will come out of the woodwork...

well, I don't know...

so, we've been enjoying ourselves on the old ebay message board, and then everything just started going haywire... there was a post about a crazy seller, so we're all having a good old time telling the poster what to do and how to deal, then the crazy seller shows up. And we're talking seriously crazy... Big auctions for "colonic cleansing" and Jesus, along with pictures of human crap that came out of people, and telling us that she had a doctorate and, well just absolute tripe... and then everytime somebody took a position against her, or just told her that pictures of crap in an auction might turn people off, she started reporting them to the moderators, who don't really seem to actually check what was said they just hand out slaps...

So, the final outcome is that even though her auctions are breaking about fifty rules, she's managed to get a whole bunch of my online friends into trouble... and a few of them won't be allowed to post anymore, at least for a week, and I'm feeling a little guilty because I certainly took a few shots at her, and I didn't get any slaps, but I was contrbuting to the problem that got some of my friends slaps, and really it's all just disgusting...

Oh well, my friends will be back...

There really isn't anything I can think of doing right now... I guess that I'll have to kind of wait and see...

Maybe a voodoo curse...

About this trading assistant thing...

So, I guess I should post something on here that's actually informative, rather than just silly little advertisements for me...

Here's a few rules for anybody who's thinking about approaching me for selling things...

1) If it came in a box marked 'collectible' it's generally not...
Danbury mint, star trek & star wars figurines, etc... Are NOT investments. They are valuable for about one year, then the price drops and doesn't come back up for 25 to 30. Yes, I realize that Star Wars stuff is about 25 to 30 years old now. The problem is that everybody who bought it, put it up, and there are well over 5 million of the darned things floating around... With a few notable exceptions, it ain't worth my time to list...

2) I don't care what the collectors book says...
I am getting a little tired of explaining to people that even though the collectors book says that your baseball card is worth 500 bucks, the truth of the matter is that I can look over auctions on eBay for the last 30 days and tell you it's actually selling for about $75. And then, only if you're extremely lucky. Please, No amount of whining and/or self-righteous indignation on your part is going to change that. This comes under the collectible that really isn't... Yes it is collectible, but... If a company put out 500,000 of the things and everybody who bought them kept them, they're just not as rare as you think...

3) Don't bring me a catalog of supposedly wholesale stuff...
There are several supposed "wholesalers" out there who sell their catalogs to people for about $50 a pop, telling these people that they'll be able to sell this crap on eBay forever 100% profit, and you can have it drop-shipped from China too.... I am getting tired of setting people in front of a computer and showing them that their ever-so-valuable items are selling for 99 cents, and only about 1 in 20 listings are selling at all... So, no, I'm not going to be the trading assistant for these items because I'm here to make money, and this ain't gonna do it.

4) Don't bring me cheap Chinese knock-offs of watches, or purses, or anything else for that matter...
Along the same lines as #3... There are websites who auction of lots of watches with supposed retail values of 100 to 400 bucks each. Again, you have to pay $50 for the right to bid on these auctions... And the only person making any cash is the guy charging you $50. The watches themselves sell for 99 cents to 9.99, and only about 1 in 20 sell... So again, no amount of whining or indignation is going to convince me to sell this crap... I'm also very good at spotting fake purses. I have to be. If I list them, I will get kicked off eBay.

5) In reference to #3 or #4, there isn't a get rich scheme on the planet that holds water after a little market research. If someone tries to sell you a membership to a wholesale club or auction site... Remember, there isn't a legitimate wholesaler who works by making you pay for the dubious priveledge to see their stock... Also, if you type in wholesaler on internet search engines... None of those companies that show up are actually wholesalers... And I don't know of a single wholesaler who works that way...

6) Please don't bring me your handmade jewelry to sell.
I'm sorry, but every bored housewife with access to a Hobby Lobby or Michaels MJ Designs seems to have picked up a piece of fishing line and a few beads and declared herself a jeweler. At any point in time, there are well over 10,000 pieces of homemade jewelry on eBay, and unless you've got something really unique, (and lets face it, there are only so many ways to but a bead on a string) you're wasting your time. . . I'm sure your work is lovely, but there are so many of these pieces of homemade jewelry on eBay, that the majority sells for under 9.99. You're not going to make a profit, and I'm not going to make a profit, and we're all wasting out time.

Most of this jewelry is an impulse buy. People see it, want it, buy it. You can sell them off of a card table at the local crafts fair, or you may be able to convince a local boutique to stock them, but you're not gonna convince me to list them on eBay.

7) If you're in love with something, please don't ask me to sell it. Face it ladies, you may have paid $300 for a Dooney & Bourke purse, but you've since carried it around for a year and the inside is stained, the edges are scuffed, and no, I'm not going to be able to get more than 20 or 30 dollars for it.

8) Ebay is an auction. Which means that it will start at $9.99 and people bid up. Yes, it may sell for $9.99. But it is entirely possible that it will sell for 100.00 or even 2000.00. Trust me, if it's worth 500.00, people will bid it up to that. If nobody wants to give you 500.00, then it isn't worth 500.00, no matter what you say.

Well, I guess that's it for today.

Bet you can't guess who I had to talk to today, and about what... Just venting a little...

Now I really must get back to listing...

busy busy busy

started the day by having to run to the warehouse to get things that sold overnight, so that I could get them sent out. Then I had to list a whole bunch of stuff, then I had to answer questions from the auctions... along with, "According to the USPS the item was delivered yesterday, you need to recheck at home..." Possibly and honest mistake, but thanks to Delivery Confirmation, I don't fall for the scam version of it today...

Listed too much to list here... But if you're into retro Christmas stuff, there's some old Shenango plates you'll like, and there's some old kitchen appliances, and some brand new ones, and lord only knows what else you'll find... I've forgotten already.

Very very very tired...

model trains...

Well, I forgot these... almost forgot I had them in stock. Don't know how... a huge set of model trains, tracks, buildings, little people, everything really... Don't know much about trains. I had a set when I was a kid, but the first time I set them up my sister kicked the engine across the room and destroyed it. I go even by hanging her barbies from the clothes-line by their hair, and charging all the neighborhood kids a nickel a shot to shoot them with my BB gun. Even when I was a kid, I made a profit...
Anyway, more pics, 14 in total, in the listing, so check them out if you're interested... http://stores.ebay.com/luckypennyfleamarket