Coffee Mug BOLO to Sell on eBay - Moomin of Arabia Mugs

Coffee mugs can be a high profit eBay flip. They are often priced at $1 or less, are fairly easy to ship, and are usually abundant everywhere pickers find inventory. And Starbucks mugs are definitely not the only high profit game in town.

Moomins are characters in a Swedish collection of books and comic books published between 1945 and 1993, illustrated by Tove Jansson. Moomins are part of pop culture in Sweden and other countries and appear in TV shows. There is even a Moomin theme park in Finland.

A Moomin sort of looks like a hippopotamus. So they are pretty recognizable once you know what they are.

The bottom logo of the mug looks like this:

Some Moomin mugs are highly sought after and can sell for hundreds of dollars, especially the limited editions.  Here are some screen shots of sales of Moomin Mugs on eBay over the last 90 days on eBay:

Moomin Mugs are not necessarily vintage. A Moominvalley theme park was opened in Japan in 2019 and those mugs showed up on eBay shortly thereafter. Those mugs look like this:

The Japan theme park mugs are currently selling on eBay for $250-$300.

When you are looking through mugs to flip on eBay, don't forget the Moomins! 

eBay Shipping for Beginners 2020 - Easy Steps

One of the most challenging (and overwhelming) parts of learning to sell on eBay is understanding shipping. That is completely normal! Unless you have worked at the post office or in a shipping department, of course you wouldn't know all of the details of how to ship a variety of items.

I am here to make it easy for you! Below are some common rules of shipping for eBay, or if you want to skip the boring stuff, scroll to the end and download the free Shipping Flow Chart that you can print out and use as a cheat sheet.

eBay Shipping Survival Tips

1. Do you want to ship it? Before you even buy an item for resale, or list something you already have, ask yourself if you even want to ship it. While it may be good money, some items are difficult and time consuming to package - such as chandeliers, large sets of dishes, glassware, or heavy items like tool sets or industrial products. Try selling locally on Facebook Marketplace if it doesn't make sense to ship it.

2. You MUST have a scale. I use the WeighMax scale - get one on eBay, Amazon, or any office supply store. It costs about 20 bucks.

3. Always figure out shipping as you are listing the item and enter the weight. You don't have to actually package the item, in fact, I recommend you don't. If a buyer has a question in the future, you will have to unpackaged the item. Or, if someone buys multiple items you will have to unpackaged it and that is a waste of time.

4. Use calculated shipping - refer to the flow chart for details. Free shipping really doesn't increase sales. Buyers are smarter than that - they know the shipping cost is built into the cost of the item. Learn calculated first, then graduate to flat rate boxes.

5. Keep a variety of shipping supplies on hand until you learn what you need. An eBay business is an evolution and what you sell will keep changing. You can always recycle what you don't use, or return free USPS supplies to the post office if you don't use them.

6. Be patient. You will continue to learn with practice. You are learning a new skill just like playing the piano or another language. Your skill will develop over time.

Download the shipping flow chart here. 

I am always here to help you! If you want more one-on-one help, join the Premium Content Library and get access to hundreds of tutorial videos, and best of all, unlimited email support to help you build your eBay business.

Happy Selling!

Suzanne

Learn What to Sell on eBay Fast - Cliffs Notes for eBay!

Remember Cliffs Notes from high school? Those study guides written to help you learn quicker, "ease homework headaches," and help you score higher on tests? Well, I have developed something along those lines for eBay sellers to help you study and quickly learn "what to sell" by recognition.

These study guides are designed to help you learn to source products faster and learn by recognition, rather than trying to memorize a list of brand names, logos, or types of high profit items. Sharpen your sourcing skills by studying printed materials in addition to watching videos.

These lists are a valuable resource because they are:

• Printable! Print out and make your own study notebook to refer to whenever you want.
• Updated frequently so you are continually getting new information to enhance your sourcing efforts.
• Alphabetized for easy reference. Organization is they key to effective learning!
• Created by product category such as clothing, kitchen items, baby items, office supplies - organized the same way a thrift store has departments.
• Clothing brands are not usually faked. You know me, I stay away from problematic products that can get you into trouble on eBay.

Here is a sample of the format of the study guides. Columns in the charts include:

• An image of the item, clothing label, or logo
• Best case pricing scenario
• Reasonable price point
• Specific criteria to help you choose the most profitable items
• Other notes - anything else I can think of to help you make better buying decisions

2 study guides are ready now - women's clothing and discontinued items. The information in these study guides WILL help you make more money on eBay. You don't know what you don't know! And I guarantee you are walking past things in a thrift store that you can sell for good money, you just aren't aware of it. (Hey it happens to everyone, even me!)

These are available in the Premium Content Library. So come on over and sign up so you can have access to this fantastic new learning tool. eBay is NOT dead, there is unlimited money to be made. This stuff is just sitting in thrift stores waiting for you!

Join today - You don't know what you don't know!

Why Moms are Ideal eBay Sellers

Being a mom is challenging. Whether you work outside the home full time, part time, or are a stay at home mom. All moms have their struggles. And you may be looking for a way to bring in extra income to change your employment situation.

Maybe you work full time but really want to transition to being a full time at-home mom.

Or maybe your part time job isn't working out the way you had hoped.

Or maybe you are running a business from home, and want another  stream of income.

eBay could be your answer. Unlike MLMs, there are no start up costs to begin selling on eBay. And eBay is legit - unlike a lot of work at home scams out there.

YOU JUST START.

Parents have a steady stream of "product" to sell as kids outgrow clothes, shoes, toys, educational products, baby gear - you name it. Why get pennies on the dollar at a garage sale? Sell that stuff on eBay and recover your cost so you can have cash to invest in the next stage of your kids' lives.

Check out this playlist especially for moms on YouTube. It is 7 hours of information to help you get started and be successful with your at-home eBay business. Millions of moms do it, you can, too!

$5 Estate Sale Item Sells for $2,500 on eBay

Hi eBayers!

I bet you thought I fell into the black hole of the internet...well I kind of did!

I am back now and will be breathing new life into my beloved blog. I've missed it!

So let's talk about a HUGE eBay sale. George Kelly, who religiously posts on the Money Making Monday thread on my Facebook group, posted this sale of an antique art deco silver plated pitcher he bought for $5. It sold for a whopping $2,510!

Look at how the bidding jumped from $89 to $2,400! Now who said eBay was dead - definitely not George Kelly!

I was honored to be able to interview George on my YouTube channel. He is a 20 year eBay veteran and ran an estate sale company in his former life before eBay. Which is why we can all learn so much from him! Check out the interview here.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back here blogging regularly!

Oh and don't forget to check out my new Premium Content Library here - get a 30 day free trial with coupon code FREETRIAL. 

Happy selling!

Top 6 Tips for eBay Beginners

I've been selling on eBay every day since 2003. I have helped thousands of sellers build an eBay business along the way. eBay is a big place with many moving parts. If you are just starting your eBay journey, here are a few tips to help you succeed faster.

Learn How to Price Items 

You must know how to price an item for the eBay universe. An item is only worth what someone will pay for it, and you can figure that out by looking at eBay completed listings. Here is a video on exactly how to figure out how to price items.

Start by Selling Things You Already Have

Most people think they have to go out and buy stuff to sell. Not true! The average American home has 300,000 items, and $7,000 or more worth of things that can be sold online. I have worked with clients over the years who have decades worth of accumulation in their homes and it could take a good 6-18 months to work through it all. Here are some things you might not know even sell on eBay!

Don't Sell High Risk Items

Sellers often are enthusiastic when starting on eBay, and want to jump in by selling expensive items. Don't do it! You could be the victim of a scam. Start slow, small, and learn the ropes before offering high dollar items. Play it safe! Watch this video about designer handbags - one of the types of items you should avoid until you have more experience. 

Learn About  Shipping

Shipping is undoubtedly the most confusing thing to learn when you are new to eBay. Here is a great video tutorial, with a flow chart, to walk you through the process if figuring out what to charge for shipping.  you don't want to overcharge the customer, and you don't want to short yourself either. Download the flow chart for free.

Buy Some Items to Get Feedback

If you are brand new to eBay and have just opened your account, you need to buy a few items to get some feedback. Your eBay feedback score is calculated from all of your transactions, not just your sales. So it is wise to be a buyer first, get some feedback, learn the ropes, and build your feedback score. Buy small inexpensive things you will actually use like cosmetics, office supplies, pet supplies, stickers for the kids or grandkids, or consumables. Then you won't look like a total newbie when you start to list your first items for sale. It is very, very difficult to sell anything with zero feedback, so get rid of that big obvious goose egg!

Get Help From an Expert

Getting guidance, advice, and support from an expert will move you along the learning curve faster than trying to figure out the pitfalls all by yourself. I can help! Check out my eBay Basics Course here. If you have the basics down but still need help, my Premium Content Library is perfect. You get unlimited email support, new videos every month, and much more. I am here for you!

Should You Wash Thrift Store Clothing Before Selling on eBay?

This is a big seller controversy. Here is what REALLY goes on in thrift stores and why you should wash everything that comes out of a thrift store whether you keep it or sell it.

Watch the video here.  Try not to get creeped out!

FREE eBay SEO Research Tool - How to Find Out What Buyers Want

Unfortunately eBay research is limited - we can only look at completed listings for a limited time. And eBay does not provide much in the way of traffic reports, referring search word reports, referring domain reports - all the important things we want to know to improve our business.

We can all sell a lot more stuff if we knew what buyers WANT - what people are searching for, shopping for, and researching online using search engines.

When eBay took the Omiture reports away, it was quite a blow to those of us who used the reports to improve our businesses. As a blogger and writer who is trained in SEO (search engine optimization) for over 10 years, I figured out a way to use a keyword tool that writers use, for eBay research.

Now, keep in mind, that this tool is NOT provided by eBay. I had an "aha moment" and married this keyword writing tool with the need for better eBay research. I use this FREE tool frequently to discover what buyers want based on what searches are done on the internet.

For an in-depth explanation of this free research tool, that will help eBay SEO, check out my video here. 

How to Make $100 an Hour on eBay Selling Thrift Store Items

You REALLY can make $100 selling thrift store items on eBay, IF you learn to pick the right things.

For example, I recently spent 3 hours in a Goodwill store, and found 22 items that cost me $94. Based on my research of eBay sold items (comps), I will make a profit of just shy of $600 once these items sell. Here is the math:

Cost = what I paid, some were full price, some were half price.

Fees = I used an easy 15% for fees, since eBay fees are 10%, Paypal fees are 3%, and I added a little wiggle room.

Shipping = I do calculated shipping, so the shipping is always a wash, and paid for by the buyer.

I estimate another 3 hours to photograph and list these items. So the math is:

$619 profit / 6 hours of work = $103 hourly rate. 

*Does not include drive time to the thrift store, which was 15 minutes each way, or shipping, which should be no more than 3 minutes per item.

To see all the items in this thrift store haul, check out the video here.

How to Start an eBay Business for Retirees, Baby Boomers, and Seniors

Whether you believe it or not, pre-retirees, retirees, Baby Boomers, and Seniors are in the perfect position to start or grow an eBay business. Why? It is all about the STUFF!

You have the stuff - decades worth of stuff that you absolutely can sell on eBay.

Your kids don't want the stuff. They aren't trying to be disrespectful - it just isn't important to them the way it is to you. And they don't want to have to deal with it in 20-30 years like you are dealing with it now.

Your life is changing so you don't need the stuff. 

You know all about the stuff. What decade it came from, what was going on in the world when it was popular, and what it is called.

You can use the money from the stuff.

You also have the skills and are technologically savvy enough to tackle the eBay site - which isn't really all that hard. (You are online reading this blog - so you can do eBay!)

You CAN be successful with eBay, and build a flexible business you LOVE, get rid of your stuff, make money when you feel like it, and HAVE FUN doing it from the comfort of home. 

Check out my video about how to get started and start cashing in on the stuff you have accumulated so you can ENJOY this season of your life. 

And take advantage of my Boomer special:

Book a 30 minute consultation here and I'll give you my eBay Basics course FREE.

(If you are more advanced, you can choose ANY $39 course.)

If you aren't satisfied with the consultation, no problem, I will refund your money and you can keep the course as my gift. No questions asked, no hassle. 

Let's get going on eBay NOW so you can start downsizing and making money while you are doing it!

eBay Podcasts Now on iTunes and Stitcher!

Hi eBay friends!

As you have probably noticed, I have been remiss in blogging. Mostly because my audience isn't really reading anymore, they want to watch and listen to great eBay info on YouTube instead! Well, now you can, too.

You can listen to the audio from my YouTube videos on podcasts, either on iTunes (for Apple users) or Stitcher (for Apple and Android users). If you don't know how to listen to a podcast on your mobile device, I explain everything (in true Suzanne style) in this video.

I'm looking forward to a prosperous and productive 2018, and hope you will come along for the ride!

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and abundant 2018,

Suzanne

eBay Tutorials on YouTube Every Day - Over 250 FREE Videos

I've been busy on YouTube building my channel because everybody loves videos! You can watch and listen while you are doing other things like taking photos, listing, shipping, driving, walking on the treadmill - whatever!

Some popular new videos - just click and you will be taken to the video:

How Long Should it Take to List One Item on eBay?

How to Make Money on eBay with No Money

How to Sell on eBay the Right Way

eBay Horror Story - 1,000 Listings Lost

Why Listing Every Day on eBay Helps Sales

Easiest Way to Increase Clothing Sales on eBay

If you are looking for an easy and free way to learn more about eBay selling subscribe to my YouTube channel for daily videos! 

Everything is organized into playlists so you can either listen to random videos or stick with a particular topic:

No hype,  just REAL information that you can use to grow your business. Come on over to YouTube and join the community and let's talk eBay!

See you there!

Suzanne

eBay Reseller Sells $7 Item from Local Goodwill for $535!

This is why we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE eBay! Shout out to fellow seller Shannon Floyd Baughman for her amazing sale! Here are the details, directly from Shannon:

"I bought this dress at a Goodwill about 10 minutes from my house for $6.95. I was actually scanning tags for a St. John that I only recently found a BOLO from your site. I stumble on this dress and thought it was lovely, but had never heard of the designer. 

I looked him up and saw a similar dress had sold for $320 so I grabbed it up.I have 4 kids so I am often distracted by everyday life, I tossed the dress in my office and it sat there for over 3 weeks. 

A week before we were going on our vacation to Universal Studios, I was looking around my office for items to list for spending money and saw the dress. I immediately listed it, with help from my 12 year old daughter who modeled it. I started it out at $99.99 on a ten day auction."

Here is Shannon's daughter modeling the dress. (Stunning model by the way - she looks precious in this dress!)

Thanks so much for sharing this sale, Shannon, and I hope that spending money came in handy!

For more amazing eBay sales by people just like you, check out Money Making Mondays in my Facebook Group here. 

Related Articles:

$18 Thrift Store Item Sells for $1,800

$1.50 Thrift Store Item Sells for $1,350

eBay Seller Making Thousands of Dollars a Day Selling on Consignment

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Recap from Dallas eBay Workshop - Now Booking for Charlotte and Orlando!

We had a fantastic workshop in Dallas! Melanie and I loved visiting the city and meeting such a great group of motivated and dedicated sellers. Thanks for having us!

Our tentative next stops are:

and

This is an 8 hour workshop packed with information! Some testimonials from the Dallas group:

This is not a list of brands. You will learn about these topics:

Natural fibers are superior to synthetics. Learn what they are, why they are expensive, and why they are superior, and what they feel like so you can become a better and faster picker by recognizing these fabrics when shopping for inventory to sell. 

A garment's value depends on not only the fabric, but how it is made. The skill that goes into making a superior garment can be recognized easily - but you have to know what you are looking for. See high quality and low quality items up close, and understand the details so you can recognize high quality and low quality items without even knowing the brand.

In-home clothing hacks, easy repairs, and when to sell an item "as is" and skip the repair all together. 

Dos and don'ts for storing clothing - protect your investment and make sure you are storing clothing properly.

Learn the hot trends in fashion now, and make sure you are speaking to you buyers using the correct vocabulary. If you don't speak to your buyers correctly, they won't find your listings. 

Learn the names of specific fashion details and styles. This section updated seasonally so as an attendee of my workshops you will receive updated videos as I make them. 

It's tough, or even impossible to Google something when you don't know the name for it. Learn strategies to figure out what something is called when you don't know the name.

Everything you ever wanted to know about authenticating but were afraid to ask! Keep your account happy and healthy and make sure you understand eBay's VeRO program.

My proprietary innovative idea section for marketing your eBay items in creative ways. Strategies I have come up with over the years to increase sales and speak to specific audiences shopping for specific items. Stuff I was inspired to do and it works!

50% of eBay transactions are touched by mobile - purchased, viewed, questions asked, etc. If your listings aren't optimized, buyers can't read them, and you ARE losing sales. Learn how to optimize your listings. 

No up-selling or sales pitches about 3rd party services. Learn ways to use free apps to help run your eBay business more efficiently. 

If you aren't selling locally on Facebook groups, you are leaving money on the table. 45 minute section all about how to use FB groups for buying and selling, protocol, negotiating, FB group selling  best practices, and how to cash in on this local opportunity. 

Learn to use dead time during the day (in the dentist office waiting room, waiting for kids to take their lessons, traveling, when you are stuck somewhere but still have internet on your phone) to find items online to resell.  Great strategy for caregivers or those with medical issues who can't get out and source as much as they would like.  

More information about this comprehensive workshop in a 20-minute video:

Booking for Charlotte and Orlando NOW!

Registration Ends at Midnight on July 27, 2017

Secure Your Space Here 

See you soon!