I fall in love with everything I thrift

[loveit]

I thnk I'm going to open a store on Ebay and sell my thrift store finds, but I have a hard time letting go of them. I bought four Pyrex cups in the butterfly pattern, really didn't like them that much and thought I would defintely sell them. I got them home, washed them, and fell in love. Now I'm looking at Ebay for other pieces to buy!! This is insane.

I have a set for 12 of Corning Centura (discontinued Summerhill pattern) that I bought for $70. I love it. The only problem is that I'm afraid to put it in the dishwasher so I have to hand wash it, and since I have a family, all that hand washing gets to be too big of a chore. So I put it all in a cupboard and plan to sell it on Ebay. But, I love it too much. I swear, even a cup of coffee tastes better in one of the cups!! Am I mad?

[Jay2TheRescue]

I thnk I'm going to open a store on Ebay and sell my thrift store finds, but I have a hard time letting go of them. I bought four Pyrex cups in the butterfly pattern, really didn't like them that much and thought I would defintely sell them. I got them home, washed them, and fell in love. Now I'm looking at Ebay for other pieces to buy!! This is insane.

I have a set for 12 of Corning Centura (discontinued Summerhill pattern) that I bought for $70. I love it. The only problem is that I'm afraid to put it in the dishwasher so I have to hand wash it, and since I have a family, all that hand washing gets to be too big of a chore. So I put it all in a cupboard and plan to sell it on Ebay. But, I love it too much. I swear, even a cup of coffee tastes better in one of the cups!! Am I mad?

There's no problem putting the Corelle dishes in the dishwasher.  I've never seen dishwasher faded Corelle.  As far as the ugly butterfly... UH, Butterfly Gold coffee mugs goes we have never had any luck selling them.  We don't buy mugs anymore unless they are extremely rare or unusual.

-Jay

[valleythriftshopper]

I go to thrift stores partially for myself & partially to find Ebay stuff as I sell part-time.  Sometimes it is hard to part with the best finds.  I simply do not have space to keep everything I bring home & if I do find something fairly valuable, it usually is not too hard to let go (especially when you see those bids coming in!)  

I have some items that in hindsight I wish I had kept.  I did end up keeping a set of Lu Ray dishes I got for $5.00 with the intention of selling & now I too am looking to find more pieces as I fell in love with them & could not part with them.  I have also kept some Fiestaware pieces because they go well with the LuRay but if I found a really valuable one I don't think I would have a hard time letting it go.  

I would not bother to open an actual Ebay Store unless you have alot of things to sell, they are not very economical.  Good luck & please share your future finds!

[ChrisMiss]

I agree if you have some stuff you want to let go of then you should do so using the auction side of ebay.  I used to have an ebay store and use the auctions too.  Items in the store would be items that I determined a certain price to sell them for.  There's no chance of getting more for the item when it's in the store.     

[alexandra]

I sorta have the same problem with guitars -- which I don't thrift but generally buy second hand.  I've got one now that I should sell, but I've been procrastinating.  And I should get decent money for it too!

I took one of my "finds" with me to my lesson last night so I could leave it for some minor repair work.  The teacher loved it and told me it was unique and more than worth what I paid for it.  I just loved it when I saw it and I really grew into it.  It's an old super-jumbo knock-off of a Gibson.  Defnitely vintage, but impossible to track down -- and made to last.   There were a few times I thought of selling or trading, but am glad I held on to it.  I couldn't really play it easily when I first got it, and it was so totally opposite the type of guitar I'd played before.

What's funny, is that I stumbled onto old country/blues/jazz through another musician and got into it -- which that darned guitar is so good for.  Now I play it almost every day.

This of course compounds that pack-rat mentality, that you should discard something because it might be important later!

Anybody else every buy an old item like that -- something that just caught your fancy, but that wasn't obviously suited to you... but ended up being just perfect?  I think that's what's wild about "finding" things rather than aspiring/covetting them.

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

I will buy things I like without knowing where they're going to go. And then I realize they were just what I needed for a particular spot in my home.

It helps that I'm kind of in a rut with the sorts of items and colors I like.

[valleythriftshopper]

I thnk I'm going to open a store on Ebay and sell my thrift store finds, but I have a hard time letting go of them. I bought four Pyrex cups in the butterfly pattern, really didn't like them that much and thought I would defintely sell them. I got them home, washed them, and fell in love. Now I'm looking at Ebay for other pieces to buy!! This is insane.

Well you can forget about selling on Ebay now (or I would at least).  They just came out with a new laundry list of selling rules which include leaving only positive feedback for buyers (the only other option is to leave no FB at all).  Also an increase in fees which they are trying to spin as a decrease (they decreased some fees & increased other with the overall effect being an increase).  Apparently they can't be bothered with part-time sellers now & only want power seller so I am looking into other options. 

[Jay2TheRescue]

I thnk I'm going to open a store on Ebay and sell my thrift store finds, but I have a hard time letting go of them. I bought four Pyrex cups in the butterfly pattern, really didn't like them that much and thought I would defintely sell them. I got them home, washed them, and fell in love. Now I'm looking at Ebay for other pieces to buy!! This is insane.

Well you can forget about selling on Ebay now (or I would at least).  They just came out with a new laundry list of selling rules which include leaving only positive feedback for buyers (the only other option is to leave no FB at all).  Also an increase in fees which they are trying to spin as a decrease (they decreased some fees & increased other with the overall effect being an increase).  Apparently they can't be bothered with part-time sellers now & only want power seller so I am looking into other options. 

Yeah, I got that email today as well.  In one respect I think its good.  I only have one neg feedback, and it was from a bad seller.  He misrepresented an item, and when I emailed him and tried to negotiate a solution he slammed me with a negative.  On rare occasions though some buyers deserve neg feedback.  Under the new rules you can only file a non paying bidder alert.

-Jay

[foutchie]

Yes, I'm not sure how I feel about the feedback issue either - at least retalitory feedback won't be allowed, but there are a few routinely bad buyers out there that deserve their negs........

[Jay2TheRescue]

Yes, I'm not sure how I feel about the feedback issue either - at least retalitory feedback won't be allowed, but there are a few routinely bad buyers out there that deserve their negs........

They are probably trying to get sellers to initiate feedback first again.  In the old days, the sellers left feedback as soon as they shipped the item.  Now many sellers have adopted the "I won't leave FB for you until you leave FB for me" attitude. 

-Jay

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

...And a "If you leave me honest negative feedback because I took 20 weeks to ship, I will leave you Revenge negative feedback even though you paid in full and on time."

One of my friends had that happen. She was horrified because she's always such a conscientious person about transactions.

[Big Daddy Audio]

I will buy things I like without knowing where they're going to go. And then I realize they were just what I needed for a particular spot in my home.

It helps that I'm kind of in a rut with the sorts of items and colors I like.

This is another application of the RAS (reticular activation system).  You were subconsciously aware of what you needed, but didn't realize on the conscious level what you needed until it was presented.  Once it's there, it hits the conscious mind (I sound like a scientologist and I'm not) and you make the connection.

See you next time
bye for now.

[valleythriftshopper]

They are probably trying to get sellers to initiate feedback first again.  In the old days, the sellers left feedback as soon as they shipped the item.  Now many sellers have adopted the "I won't leave FB for you until you leave FB for me" attitude. 

-Jay

I always used to leave feedback first, then I got a neg from an international buyer who said the item had broken during shipping, which I would have gladly taken care of - if the person had bothered to email me first!  I read that persons feedback & she left alot of negs & neutrals over really silly things without contacting the buyer first & only stopped when people gave her neg or neutral back. 

I have five stars in all my detailed ratings & rarely give a neg fb.  I had one neutral fb & I still gave the person a pos.  There are a growing number of nut jobs buying on Ebay now & this will only incourage more.  If they want to eliminate the fb, then they need to post the number of Non-paid item strikes the buyer has (which they won't do). 

I think they see their big business in the power seller & can't be bothered with the little guy anyway.  I will probably continue to sell a small number of stuff with them & put links in my about me page for my other stuff, so I'll just use them for advertising.  Good riddence!

[Big Daddy Audio]

I used to give feedback as soon as I shipped the item.  Then buyers started playing games - mainly using feedback extortion schemes - and I stopped giving feedback until the buyer was happy.  I refused to be held hostage by some schmuck who wanted to get something for free ("I'll win the auction, but then used feedback blackmail to get a reduced price so I get over on everyone!") or to use my machine as a "parts source" for their broken item, then claiming that mine doesn't work as advertised.

This, along with the closing of my source for low cost shipping materials, pretty much caused me to close up shop with regards to eBay.  I have started using Craigslist, which is active in pretty much every city (even world-wide).  With www.Craigslist.org, transactions are local, and people come to your house to pick up the goods.  There are no shipping hassles,  and they (or you, if you're the buyer) can see EXACTLY what they're getting before they plunk down the cash.

I've had good experiences on Craigslist, where as on eBay, it always more of a business - sell the item, get paid, ship, don't get involved, next item up for bids...

See you next time
bye for now. 

[Other People s Junk]

I used to give feedback as soon as I shipped the item.  Then buyers started playing games - mainly using feedback extortion schemes - and I stopped giving feedback until the buyer was happy.  I refused to be held hostage by some schmuck who wanted to get something for free ("I'll win the auction, but then used feedback blackmail to get a reduced price so I get over on everyone!") or to use my machine as a "parts source" for their broken item, then claiming that mine doesn't work as advertised.

That is what happened here, too!