I tend to be a bit timid when it comes to spending money with the aim of re-selling an item. I'm always wary that items might only sell for the 99p starting bid on ebay - or, indeed, not sell at all. I think the most I'd spent before now was £5.00 on a vintage picnic set and I still haven't got round to listing that for sale on ebay - I'll hang on for a few more months now. Yesterday though I saw some stunning curtains for sale in the local charity shop
They are floor-length, cotton and linen mix fabric with this wonderful pattern of roses all over them. Before I'd even realised they were by Laura Ashley, I knew they were lovely quality. The fact that they were £7.50 for the pair did put me off for a nano-second and then I thought of the old adage 'you've got to speculate to accumulate.' Having checked some of the sold prices for Laura Ashley curtains on ebay I think I'll make a profit on them but if they fail to attract enough bids to cover the purchase price I'll keep them as they would nicely fit the windows in our dining room.
So I think that's going to be a re-selling resolution for me in 2011 - stop being such a sissy and take a few risks. Plus, I'm going to keep a record of what I buy, where I buy it, how much it costs, and how much it sells for. I realised at the end of last year that I had no idea whatsoever of how much I made via re-selling over the past 12 months (nowhere near enough to pay income tax, that's for sure) and I'd like to be able to look back at the end of this year and work out what sold well, what I paid for it and how much it fetched. At the moment I'm jotting things down in an old notebook but I'll keep my eye out for a heavily reduced in price 2011 diary in the next few weeks and will use that as a more permanent record.
what lovely curtains. LA always sells well and I'm another who regrets not buying items for resale.
I'm sure you will make a good profit on those curtains.
Posted by: sharie | 01/07/2011 at 09:11 PM
I just make a spreadsheet on my computer, then I don't have to keep up with a ledger, its all right there on the pc.
Posted by: angela | 01/08/2011 at 12:15 AM
Good luck with the curtains, they look gorgeous. I don't keep a written records, but find my blog very useful for looking back when I can't remember what I've paid for an item that I've got from a boot sale. And I tend to leave charity shop price tags on as an aide memoire when I come to list items.
Posted by: Caroline | 01/09/2011 at 11:15 AM
If they don't sell as curtains, you could just list them as fabric because the fabric is v stylish. I once did that and got a ridiculous amount of money for each piece of 'fabric' - way more than I would have got for them as a set of old curtains. Good luck!
Posted by: Karyn White | 01/10/2011 at 09:21 PM
What's your eBay user name? I keep reading about the lovely stuff you're going to sell and have no idea how to buy them! Fab blog - one of my favourites.
Posted by: Amanda Brown | 01/15/2011 at 10:19 AM