Final Count,Sorta

weel, after literally selling stuff off of the walls I have closed with a little over $4500 today. Less the eBay fees and supplies I have about $4200 ready to go. I would probably be closer to $5000 if payments were alittle faster. oh well, that means I brought in a third of the total amount. Pretty good. I just wish that I would see something tangible from all this selling

An Update And Income Tax Professionals

I am now over $3000,I was well on the way to $4000 but the $300 in eBay fees that I we will get in the way of that, oh well. Cost of doing business. We decided to have our taxes done by a professional in case we could reduce the bill somehow. nOt only was their final number higher, they charged us over $500.oo for the privelege. Please , if you use a tax service , get the price up front. I got the hourly rate ,but not a final price. Big Mistake!

Over $2000

I went over $2000 the other day. The second 1000 was a lot easier and was helped by the sale of what was pretty much the cream of the collection. A lot of heat for the Metallica box set.The biggest item so far is still listed . It is original comic art by the great Alex Ross. No bids yet , but there is only one of these in the world so I hope that someone will want it.Kinda.

The First Thousand Is The Hardest.....

It took almost amonth to reach a thousand dollars in sales, but now I am almost at $2000 in the space of 10 days. Rolling out the big items really helped. The Kingdom come figures sold as a Buy It Now for $330.00. I am shocked that the Wild Things figures haven't gone ,yet. They are probably the most beautiful figures ever produced and are truly all ages. As always , you can see all the eBay action by searching gr8gnius.

Finally Above $1000 in Sales!!!

I just pased $100 in sales the other day. It would have been sooner , but I had to give a couple refunds. The feeling of hopelessness that all of this work engenders strikes me at leats once a day. Alll of these sales don't go toward buying anything or getting me out of debt ,just keeping me out of jail and my wife's credit in good shape. I don't know if I have mentioned this before , but our oldest daughter starts college next year at a cost of almost $48,000. That is something I alsways ahve to kkep in mind, that this is just round 1 of a 7 year fight. I hope I win on points.

Update

I have been listing ,listing listsing and I am not making any great leaps ahead. I wish that this was my problem and my wife was left out of it. I would just take the tax lien and pay it off bit by bit ,but she shouldn't have her credit thrown into the crapper because of my stupidity. The stress is getting to me. I sent items to the wrong places last week and ruined some guy's birthday present for his brother. The packages didn't even look alike. It looks like I will have just over $2000 from all of the selling. I am going to push on the reallly premium stuff I have left and see if I can make a big splash.

A Disturbing Trend

To date , I have sold 75 items. Unfortunately I have had 3 reports of items missing in the mail or ,in one case stolen after delivery. I have sold over 500 items previously and only had 1 go missing. It got as far as the truck on the RR route before it disappeared. It was a birthday Beanie Bear and I believe I sold it for like $30.00 during the craze. I hope that there is suddenly insane demand for Trade paperbacks and Simpsons figures. One month to go ...the winter offensive began last night with almost 40 items listed.Push,Push,Push!!!!

Status Report

A little over $800.00 in sales. A little over $100.00 in eBay fees. A little over 10 complaints about shipping cost. I am now going to try and offer calculated shipping ,but I am sure there will be questions. The fact is that I am usually 2-3 dollars in the hole by the time a listing ends and is paid for by Paypal. fees are a part of doing business,I know. The bottom line is : if you see an auction and think the shipping is too high.... DON'T BID!!!!
I am selling toys and comic books, not kidneys and livers. You don't need any of this stuff : pay or wait for a better deal.

A Big Night

Last night was a big one for the old Great Sale. Over $200.00 in bids and a lot of multiple item sales.The NFL figures were great,of course,but the Movie Maniacs did really well. I offered them when they were new and it was like I had Dysentery for sale. No one came near them. Time heals all wounds and makes all collectibles.

Still Working...

I am at a little over $300.00 in the door. Only 2 non-payers and today is a half-price listing day, so watch out!I am getting the feeling that hardly anyone reads comics,at least American ones. I have been listing some paperback collections and hardcovers of some pretty popular characters and there has been ver little movement. I guess that almost anyone who would want 'em; has 'em

Stupid Is As Stupid Does....

It seemed pretty obvious to me. Cross-promote this blog with the eBay listings. I inserted a sentence about selling my beloved possessions into the description space in the auctionsfollowed by the URL for this blog. Or not. Not only did I not have the correct URL,I just made one up. All that traffic will not be coming here. I had to sepend a half hour correcting that problem rather than selling more pieces of my life. Oh well.Things continue to roll along. I passed the long-awaited 50 listing threshold on Sunday night and I will be uploading a ton more stuff.

Football Figures Will Save Me!

Specifically McFarlane SportsPicks NFL action figures. I wrote in an item decsription a long time ago that they were the "gold satndard" of action figures. A half shot at Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie.Well, the jury's still out on the Eagles ,but I think I was right about the figures. There seems to be a lot of activity whenever I post them. (you can see my listings here). That's worldwide interest,by the way.I have had inquiries from the UK and Indonesia. I only hope that the interest holds up and the buyers come through. If I sell every one of these figures for a profit,I will be on my way.

Where It Stands

As of Wednesday night , I was still at a little over $200.00 taken in (4 non-pays counted.) I also reached a lifetime high of 38 items listed . If I get everything I plan to list listed tonight , I will reach the mythical 50 listings number. THE BELIEVER back issues were a pleasant surprise at $31.76 , but they remain unpaid. I really can't afford non-paymnet/slow payment right now. I think that I will have to adjust my listings to reflect this. Lots of action figures on sale now,including McFarlane NFL figures. They usually do very well.We'll see...

So Far, So... Okay.

The first week is done and I took in a little over 200.00. I still have a couple of non-pays that I would like cleared up ASAP.The fees do add up . eBay,Paypal and the post office all get their cut. I ahve been asked why sell on eBay if it is so expensive. It is a fair question. I feel that people go on eBay to buy.I love Amazon and I am on there all the time,but I ahve listed books there and they have not sold. It may have been what i was listing wasn't wanted,true.On eBay , there seems to be at least some interest in everything. There really isn't a better place for collectibles , which is what I am primarily listing. I listed some DVD'd on half.com for low,low prices and they have sold really well.(I am gr8gnius on there,by the way). I have to keep plugging away April 17th is coming quick.

A Decent Start...

The first of the ebay auctions have ended and I have grossed a little under $130.00 before fees. Not bad. I will begin the real push on Monday and Tuesday. With the DVD's I sold on Half.com,I am about 1/20th of the way there.

A Setback

I did not hit the lottery...again. If this continues , I am going to have to reassess lottery play as a major part of my strategy.

We Don't Save... That's Not Good

The savings rate for 2006 hit a 74 year low , it went further into negative territory. I know that I am an extreme example , but if I did not have a 401 k, I would not have saved a dime and probably would have spent it all on action figures.I'm not the agnostic Dave Ramsey , but how do the credit card companies think they will get their money back if we have no money? I think we have to have set limits for credit according to income.

What The Problem Is, And How It Came To Be

In short, compulsive buying and credit card debt. I had taken 401k loans in the past to pay off debt and then ran the cards back up.In June, I was in a bind and took a 401k withdrawal.I expected to have to pay taxes and a 10%penalty. I did not expect to pay 35% taxes and a a 10% penalty. 25% was withheld automatically, now I am on the hook for 10% additional tax and the penalty;around 10k. My job no longer allows me to get overtime or a mileage reimbursement. This was about 10,00 in income loss . I was making a salary in the mid 40's with both of these things and their loss has been nothing short of catastrophic. My addictive buying after the withdrawal did not help, I still have credit card debt.I would actually prefer to ba an alcoholic, at least you just die from that.My wife is one of those unlucky to be one of those people who just qualify for the AMT, put it all together and it spells almost 15k owed to the IRS. Wheeee!

The Great Sale Has Begun!

Because of a tremendous amount of debt and loss of income(which I will detail later), the arrival of a huge tax bill(Thanks ,AMT) has forced me into that most dread of days for collectors...The Great Sale. I will post about the progress of the sale and the removal of the debt as the days go by. Feel free to check out my auctions on eBay. I think I will also install a virtual tip jar just to make the debasement complete. More soon.