98 tubes of sunscreen

No, I am not preparing for a year at the beach, although that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. The aforementioned sunscreen was part of my purchase at the auction on Saturday night. The seller originally tried to sell the tubes separately, but had no takers. He then offered them as a lot, and after a few half-hearted bids from another buyer, I snagged the 98 tubes for a piddling $7.50. 

Thankfully, no one else realized the potential Ebay value, and I listed three separate lots of 24 tubes for $45 each. I may have to adjust my pricing eventually, but I think it was a worthwhile investment.

 
Earlier in the day, at 7 a.m. to be exact, Ella and I strolled into a church/cancer benefit sale that filled up the church’s gym. Ella happened to see the advertisement on Craigslist under the “Community” section, rather than the usual “Garage Sale” section. After spending at least 30 minutes grabbing goodies without running into another buyer, I began to think that Ella might have been the ONLY person to notice the advertisement. I decided to mention the ad placement to the couple running the sale, but only after scouring the tables one more time.

I may be compassionate, but I’m not stupid.

It turns out that the sale was a benefit for their daughter, who had cancer, and the church had volunteered the use of the gym, and church members had donated the items. The couple seemed thankful for the information, and Ella and I walked out having spent $42, including $6 for this case of official USSSA softballs.

After a few hit and miss stops, we happened to pass by a church that was having a sale. We stopped, of course, and found a few items. Two doors down, another church was having a sale, so we slammed on brakes again. What is it with these churches that don’t advertise?

Overall, Saturday was a decent day, and I even heard my phone ka-ching several times, which is always a happy sound.

Sunday morning was spent packing weekend sales, which included a bunch of DVDs from the lot we purchased a couple of weeks ago. All told, I’ve sold 51 DVDs for a grand total of $486, which is more than half of what I paid for the whole lot. I still have about 900 to sale, and $414 left before I at least break even.

We pick up Duc, our Vietnamese exchange student, on Thursday. While I am somewhat excited, I hope he doesn’t think he is walking into an episode of Hoarders upon entering our house. The local exchange program coordinator says to treat Duc as part of the family, rather than a guest, which means that Ella and I get a helping hand both with the household chores and our Amazon/Ebay business. 

By the way, I checked Craigslist late Saturday afternoon, and the church never did change its ad. I hope they had other buyers after we left.