 |
Your search for Goodwill has 23 results.
|
|
|
| Authenticity Cannot Be Guaranteed.
|
0 comments
Added on 01/20/08 by Betsy
I made the Goodwill circuit today, 3 Goodwills in 2 hours.
My last stop was in South Elgin, Il - it's a bit of a hike and considering my cart was empty walking out, don't think I will be walking in again soon. Something caught my eye, a sign taped to the inside of the locked 'good shit' glass case which stated in all capped Sharpie "Authenticity of Designer Purses Cannot Be Guaranteed NO REFUNDS".
Inside the case was the typical Coach resale line up: Beekman briefcase, City bag, Station bag and the unsellable Court bag. The crazy thing was that the prices were way higher than my local Goodwill for similar items, they wanted $54.99 for a City Bag that looked like it had been dragged across the Jewel parking lot on a hot day.
I wonder if Goodwill considers themselves to be an outlet store in direct competition with the Coach outlet which is about 5 miles away and where you can walk out the door with a new purse for $65 and you don't have to pick asphalt out of the seams?
Though I would be lying if I didn't cop to being rescued by a small package hidden deep within an unused pocket of my resale Coach Hamptons tote, a new Maxi pad left there by the girl scout who bought it new.
Coach outlet should take note,. . . (read post) |
|
|
|
| Goodwill as Economic Barometer
|
0 comments
Added on 12/23/07 by Betsy
Goodwill is practically empty.
Gulp.
It is one thing to hear on NPR that spending is down this Christmas, that foreclosures are "on the rise", that people are buying fewer "durable goods" this year. That sounds like a dip on a bar graph, nothing to be concerned to deeply about.
However, for the first time in all the years I have been selling other people's junk on Ebay I am scrambling to make money.
Goodwill is just empty.
As a result, the mood is tense, even competitive.
In years past the regulars and an ever-changing cast of hopefuls engaged in good natured "I had my finger on it before you did" fun.
The weeks before Christmas are typically the time when the wealthy are purging the presents of the past to make way for this year's gluttony in the name of charity and tax exemptions. This year was the first time I saw parents fight over a toy.
They actually got in a pulling match over an air hockey table, complete with crying children looking on.
I emptied my cart back onto the shelf and went home and pulled up some toys my kids don't play with anymore.
While there are a lot of Ebayers and weird women who sleep on beds of old newspaper there are also families that depend on Goodwill for Santa toys.
I quit buying toys for resale a few weeks ago, there just isn't enough stock to go around.
(read post) |
|
|
|
| Garage Sale Season Ends and the Holidays Begin
|
0 comments
Added on 11/03/07 by Betsy
This is my favorite time of year. After the Dirty Nurse costume is packed away for another year and before Aunt Trudy, the original Dirty Nurse shows up for Thanksgiving, it's clean out the house time.
The time of year when people call Empire carpet to freshen up for the Aunt Trudy. And how can sweet Aunt Trudy squeal with jealousy over the new Berber if she can't see it?
Time to take everything to Goodwill.
For the Ebay seller it is when we kick it into high gear, clear our calendars and hang out all day at the local thrift shop. It does seem strange that people would wait until the frost hits to clean out their house, but with holiday fast approaching Goodwill will fill with large toys, TVs, stuffed animals and clothing as people make room for the new.
Any mom looking at the Toys R Us Wish Book becomes increasingly clausterphobic at the idea of being surrounded with additional hunks of purple, pink and blue plastic.
Your job as a Suburban Recycling Professional is to turn those forgotten 2006 Little Tikes kitchens, American Girl dolls and Fisher Price Loving Family Dollhouses and market yesterday's trash as Christmas morning treasure. Good luck people.
(read post) |
|
|
|
| Route 34 Garage Sale next week
|
0 comments
Added on 06/06/07 by Betsy
Get out your map, hop in your pick-up with the homemade bed and get ready to haul your treasure home.
At least 50 pristine miles of my fellows from the circuit, the Goodwill cicuit, will be looking for gold along the Route 34 Garage Sales next weekend. I'm not expecting much except used Barbies with bad hair cuts and kool-aid dye jobs, but to be among my people I'll do it.
(read post) |
|
|
|
| Karma As Co-pilot
|
0 comments
Added on 05/31/07 by Betsy
Yesterday's post about the universe using Goodwill and garage sales to offer it's wares came true yet again.
I have been collecting baby crap for a woman who is broke and didn't even have the cash for a car seat. She works at a retirement home full time for seven dollars an hour and has a 2 month old girl.
Two weeks ago a friend of my mothers-Pat-who works at the same retirement home called and asked me to collect stuff for her, she had gone in with her coworkers and raised $20.
All they wanted was a car seat to keep the baby safe and free up mom to go to the grocery store alone with the baby. I took this as a challenge.
My 2 year old had a 1 year old highly rated car seat she was to big for, so I cheated a little and passed that along. I asked did she have a bouncer, swing ya know all that junk the rest of America takes for granted.
No, Pat said she has nothing. She works all the time and her mother watches her daughter. She financially supports her mom, herself and her daughter on 7 bucks an hour.
So Karma and I went shopping.
Saturday in mid- May is prime sale season. On this particular day there were 29 subdivision garage sales, each sale having 11-110 sale houses.
I started at 7:30. Now one of the problems with starting early is that people. . . (read post) |
|
|
|
| Resurrect Your Cashed Out Coach
|
0 comments
Added on 02/25/07 by Betsy
So, it's been a while.
Worry not, I have been out there hitting it hard and gathering intelligence for the benefit of the people, and I had a number of fantastic discoveries.
After years of selling Coach bags, I am well versed in the degradation of Coach leather. For some reason they don't put feet on their bags.
My theory is that by not putting feet on their bags- the bags look crappy within a few months and you have to go get a new one.
The bottoms of used Coach bags look like Aunt Edna's elbows- all dry and gray- itchy spots is what they really look like but I of course can't put that in my ebay listings.
So for years in my listings I have included the following phrase "The bottom-a typical wear spot for Coach bags- is in good used condition with only light rubbing" or "excellent rarely carried condition".
You can always tell how much a leather Coach was carried by the condition of the bottom.
A few weeks ago I found a black Coach Court bag on the Goodwill purse rack for 2.99- most likely because it had a lot of surface wear. The leather was not worn through just had the finish rubbed off from use.
So I figured what the hell and I did something I have wanted to do to Aunt Edna's elbows for a very long time.
I Kiwi'd the hell out of it.
If you have never heard of Kiwing let me clue you. . . (read post) |
|
|
|
| The Coach\Dooney Connection
|
0 comments
Added on 01/09/07 by Betsy
This is a somewhat slower time of year on Ebay for me since toys are my mainstay. I am going to venture forth into a new realm, one quite popular with the Ebay mommy who think Goodwill is gross: the outlet mall.
I have been advised this time of year is great for reselling outlet stuff - the inventory is high since unsold Christmas items are shipped in and prices are low since the holidays are over.
My source also tells me ladies are on the prowl for the gifts they wanted and didn't get - like a $250 wallet for $120.
See you at the outlets! (read post) |
|
|
|
| Selling Clothes on Ebay Sucks
|
0 comments
Added on 01/04/07 by Betsy
The first thing I ever sold on Ebay was a lot of Baby Gap things my son was given when he was born and never wore. I thought it was great- and it is a great way to buy clothes especially high end stuff for cheap.
I think selling clothes on Ebay sucks though.
Don't get me wrong I totally do.
See what I haven't told you guys is that I have a little problem...ok so you figured but this is a different little problem.
I love baby clothes. I spend so much time looking for stuff to sell that I naturally trip over beautiful baby clothes- who can resist Hanna Andersson for $2.12 or a Baby Lulu ensem for $3.13.
I sure as hell can't so I end up with a crazy glut of designer baby duds.
They are hard to display correctly, people always say don't put them on the floor- but what else are you supposed to do?
Seamstress dummy dealies cost a lot of money and clothes look weird on a hanger on the back of a door.
There is a very smart resale suit seller who has a beautifully landscaped pool with a wrought iron fence and she hangs the used suit so you get a beautiful view of her lovely yard...and the Goodwill suit sells for triple the similar listings.
I don't have a cement pond in the back yard.
I could dress my Golden Retriever up in a Hanna Andersson dress- he would be. . . (read post) |
|
|
|
| Plushies to Prowl For #1
|
0 comments
Added on 01/02/07 by Betsy
This week I will be taking you on a tour of my favorite spot in Goodwill- the stuffed animal bin. It can be dusty, mothbally or staleish smokey or it can be gloriously rewarding.
There are a lot of random things to look out for in the toy world that are worth buying that most people think are trash and so are often left on the shelf for the Ebayers.
1.My First Bear by Eden, well initially it was made by Kids Gifts then that company became Eden. It is an 11 inch bear with a thermal pastel body and a tan plush head. It has "My First Bear" embroidered on it's chest.
This is what I am thinking, Eden made about a billion of these 6 or 8 years ago. People gave them as baby shower gifts. Kids got attached to them, parents had fond memories of it in the crib.... Then Eden stopped production.
So when Jr. leaves it on the train or big brother stuffs it in the garbage disposal to make bear juice, mom and dad aren't left with many options.
So keep your eye out for My First, he sells for an easy 29-39 and you can often pick him up for a quarter in a baby toy garage sale or stuffed animal box.
But hey! Don't pass up the identical bear without the embroidery- that was the Eden replacement in their line and he is worth about 15-19. There is also a primary color version which sells for about. . . (read post) |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
