Hot and slightly less humid, chance of rain, although yesterday was really awesome weather. A bit on the hot side in the 90s but nice in the shade. Clear blue sky with only occasional dark clouds. I’ve got a lot to do so I could use the same, maybe cooler, today.

I got some stuff done yesterday, although like usual, not all that I wanted to. I did get paint on the shelves with d2. We’re not done, but we’ve got primer on them. I’m think I’m going to regret using regular primer and not something specifically for plastic though. Paint is barely sticking.

Couldn’t find whatever is dead in my driveway. Didn’t find the third kitten today either, so I have my suspicion about WHAT is making the stink, just can’t find what it’s under.

After dropping the two ebay sales at the Post Office, I got two more sales and one lowball offer. Four items sold in one day. It’s like old times all of a sudden. Unfortunately the sale price is averaging $30-40 with about 50% markup. That might be WHY the items are selling, smalls do better than big items when times are tough. I’m going to test that by listing a pair of Martin Logan Motion SLM flat panel speakers. I should be able to get $400-500 for the pair. I still need to test them, they are ‘barn fresh’. I paid up for them, about $200, which I should be able to get back “AS-IS for parts” if there is an issue. If they do well, I’ve got some other expensive stuff to list, along with the staple smalls. The expensive stuff takes a lot longer to list as more testing is involved and there is more risk too. At least these speakers are light and small-ish.

I need to find what is selling and then pile on to that. Dump everything else locally, and concentrate on the easy money first.

I learned something new yesterday. D2 finally told me what she wants to be for Halloween, so we went by the Goodwill store on the way home from school to start looking for pieces to repurpose or use. While there I had a chat with one of the employees. She works at a variety of the stores, including the outlets. She doesn’t work directly for Goodwill, she works through an agency, which means she can shop there when she’s off the clock. So she does a bit of thrifting/reselling on the side. Had some good scores too. Anyway, she told me that stuff that piles up in the stores doesn’t go directly to the outlets when they clear it out. At least here in Houston, it goes to other stores that need stock. It could go to several stores before it ends up at the bins. Some stuff does go directly to the bins though. There is some airport lost property that goes directly to the outlet near the airport. And there is stuff that goes directly from the donate intake to the bins, when they get behind in processing it.

FWIW, the prices in the store were just under ebay prices. I asked her “Got a new store manager?” as my opening. She said yes, and I commented that I could tell by the increase in prices. That’s what kicked off our conversation. Prices go up when the new guy wants to capture more money after seeing all the resellers in the store. Then resellers stop buying. (They buy far more than an off the street customer does typically, especially in things like books, electronics, and small appliances that aren’t fast movers.) Stuff piles up. Stuff gets wholesaled out to the other stores or the outlet. Manager learns the lesson they all learn and lowers prices to MOVE the merch. There’s no shortage of stock for the Goodwill stores at the moment, so if they don’t move the merch they drown in an endless river of stuff.

I might have the same problem.

And that’s what I’m working on. Get rid of the sales stuff, buy more of the survival stuff.

Today is full. Orthodontist with D1 this morning, followed by the theater set pickup, then an auction pickup, and more auction dropoff, shipping dropoff, and all my normal stuff. Oh, and I need to get ready for WDW this weekend.

Stack it high (but be sure you’re stacking useful stuff, not just any old stuff.)

nick