Catherine's Peacock: Thrift Finds January 16, 2014

I've started to work my way into the world of clothing. Not a great area for me because I am nowhere near a fashionista. I have no clue about fashion. You will usually catch me in jeans and a sweatshirt with my Uggs on or a sweater if I'm feeling exceptionally dressy that day. It has been a hard task to find my way through this and I am not even a little close to knowing as much about a brand name of clothing like I know about a brand name of china, but I am starting slowly and for good reason.

Part of the reason that I had not been posting was that I felt like my business wasn't heading in the direction that I wanted it to and I was searching for the reason why. I finally realized that I basically needed to diversify. My love of china and vintage items, although great money makers, were harder sales and not necessities. Buy harder, I only mean that since they are not necessities, the time to re-coop my money for the next purchase is much longer than a necessity would be. Hence, me turning to clothing. I first started by reading and researching and then I jumped in...to Men's Clothing. I choose men's clothing because men don't wear crap like this...

Leg-of-mutton, are you kidding me? I've never heard of such a thing and I certainly don't want to wear something that looks like the leg of a goat on my arm. Anyways, for men it's either long sleeve or short sleeve. Simple enough. But it also gets me into the world of clothing (i.e. necessities) while giving me ample time to learn the difference between a circular flounce and a ruffle sleeve.

I have been buying a bunch of shirts and have been tending to stay away from pants. Pants are much heavier and will usually have to go Priority Mail rather than First Class which is a big jump in postage. What I have been really getting into and learning a lot about is ties. Ah yes, the light weight, low priced, good margin clothing item that a vast majority of the male population NEED! I see many people on eBay going for only the novelty types of ties which I do as well but I also go for the nice professional type ties also. Now don't get me wrong, I don't make a ton of money but sales are good if priced right. Ties are easy to list, easy to photograph and easy to ship. A trifecta for me. Here are some of my recent sales of ties. Easy profit in my eyes. I'm going to do a Ties Lesson on Sundays post to share the things I have learned. Cheers!

This Vineyard Vines Tie sold almost immediately upon listing for $26.99. I think it was two hours after I had listed it. Woot!

Cost of Goods - $2.85

Shipping - $1.69

PayPal - $1.08

eBay - $2.43

Total Profit - $18.94 (70.17%)

This Absolut Dad novelty tie caught my eye quick when I was going through a bag of donated clothing. It sold for $24.99 and I even got the best feedback for it "Even uglier in person. This is going to be a subtle hint for grandchildren." LOL, good one Grandpa!

Cost of Goods - $0.00 (donation)

Shipping - $1.69

PayPal - $1.02

eBay - $2.25

Total Profit - $20.03 (80.15%)