Asaaan Bazaar: Vintage Giveaway and eBay Tips Interview!

Sunita of the eBay shop Asaan Bazaar is a vintage selling machine! She's a featured eBay seller with a perfect score, her high sales help her pay the household bills (She blogs about her daily life here). Today Sunita's offering a plethora of goodies from her vintage stock.

You Could Win: 1.) A stack of plastic bowls 2.) Boxed set of cocktail forks and spoons 3.) Vintage Christmas Labels 4.) Vintage Wooden Spools 5.) Pretty Napkins 6.) 60s playing cards with cute graphics 7.) Ekos Soap 8.) Cute vintage stationary

Details on how to win are below, but first I had to ask Sunita how she's done so well on eBay while balancing a busy family life!

 
Tell us a little bit about yourself, Sunita.

I am a stay at home to 4 kids, 12 yrs to 5 yrs old. I have lived all over USA: Boston, Boulder, Pasadena and now Snotty Bay Area. I sell on eBay and have been writing a blog for the past 6 years.

I can speak and curse in 4 languages. I grew in Singapore and have 3 younger sisters. I met my spouse online in 1995, back when internet wasn’t so scary.  I started thrifting less than 2 years ago when I got hooked onto ATG’s blog and a few others. I decided to sell when I needed to fund my addiction.

I first started with selling clothes. However, I soon changed directions and started selling vintage housewares, BAR CARTS, sewing notions and the list goes on and on.

You're a featured eBay seller with a perfect score and tons of sales under your belt, can you share your top 3 eBay Reselling tips with us?

1.) Buy insurance to protect yourself. I use shipsurance right from eBay’s app center. All purchases above $45 are automatically insured. It has saved me from scammers to protecting me when my shipment arrives damaged or lost.

2.) List everyday. Even if it's relisting. Use sell similar instead of relist this. Tweak titles. Lower the price by a few dollars. Increase the price and add free shipping.

3.) Run Markdown Managers every week or so. I run various sales. A 20% 48 hour sale. A 50% 12 hour sale. It doesn’t cost anything and almost always snags 2-3 sales.

The extra income you earn from reselling on eBay helps you pay for many of the household expenses! What expenses do you pay thanks to your Reselling revenue?

I paid for my youngest’s  preschool tuition last year. I paid for swim lessons and eating out. A monthly housecleaner. I bought my sister a nice Xmas present. A plasma tv for our house. Like I tell people, my spouse earns the bread and butter and I supply the jam.

What's a typical day like for you? I've gotta know how you do it all: kids, extracurricular activities, maintain the house, and resell like crazy!

Come fall, I would have a very different schedule. I would have all 4 in school (youngest would be in kinder) However, this past school year:

Mondays: I worked in my son's preschool.

Tuesdays and Thursdays: My stay-at-home days when I get to list items online.

Wednesdays: I hit thrift stores from 9 to 11:30 AM.

Fridays: I hit estate sales. I would take photographs in the afternoon right after I picked up the kids during their snack and TV time. We would be home by 3:30 PM. Shipping (I print labels at home) would be done at night after they went to bed.

Saturdays: Morning estate sales. If I had a backlog of inventory, my spouse would take the kids out for the day and I worked on listings.

(Psst: The house looks like crap most of the time! Also, "Asaaan" is the initials of everyone in my house. My 4 kids all have A names. It's also the name of a yoga pose :)

How do you keep organized amid the flurry of your daily life?

I add every single item to Google Calendar. It then pops up a reminder on my phone. Sometimes I have both email and a pop up reminders. From wear green to school day to doc’s appts. I love my G2. Email on the go, Accepting offers, answering asq (ask seller questions) .

What's are your favorite things to collect while thrifting?

OMG where do I start. I have a collection of trivets that hang on my kitchen wall. Leonard silverplated. I keep an eye out for those. I always look for boy’s clothes since they are so rough on their outfits. Plants although I need to stop. My balcony is over-crowded. I have a drool worthy collection of Griswold cast iron skillets and pots. I love cooking in them.

What are your top thrifting tips?

Shop Frequently: I make it point to drag my kids for a 5 min thrift store run while doing errands. My friends always comment on my finds saying they NEVER find anything good.

Don't Fight: I almost always never fight  over items, there will be another sale next week! If the other person wants your item that bad, give it up, unless it a CatherineHolm or a Vitamix. (I don't sell jewelry, books, or silver, too much competition.)

When an estate sale opens up, everyone runs to the living room where the “fine goods” are, I always stroll to the kitchen and pick out the Dansk and Griswolds. 

Be Nice: The dealers have noticed my niceness (or maybe my cleavage) and I have been emailed about preview sales that allow me to shop in peace before the sale opens to the public. I am in touch with 3 estate sale vendors who let me do this.

Take Your Time: Always take time to dig under tables and inside boxes. I have found many an item that were still left in the box.

You Could Win: 1.) A stack of plastic bowls 2.) Boxed set of cocktail forks and spoons 3.) Vintage Christmas Labels 4.) Vintage Wooden Spools 5.) Pretty Napkins 6.) 60s playing cards with cute graphics 7.) Ekos Soap 8.) Cute vintage stationary.

Here are the rules:

1.) Shop Asaaan Bazaar and select your favorite item.
2.) Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite item is!
3.) Make sure to include your e-mail so I can contact you if you win.
4.) Follow Asaaan Bazaar blog and leave a comment on on this post for an extra entry.
5.) Follow Asaaan Bazaar on Facebook and leave a comment on this post for an extra entry.
6.) Follow Thrift Core and leave a comment on this post for an extra entry.

Good Luck! You have until August 9, 2011 to enter for a chance to win vintage swag from Asaaan Bazaar!  

(By the way, the winner of last week's giveaway was commenter #50, Missy! I've e-mailed you to gather your shipping information!)

* Asaaan Bazaar is a Thrift Core Sponsor. Click Here to read more about becoming a Thrift Core Sponsor or contact me.

Daily thrifting updates, information, & Inspiration: Follow Thrift Core on Twitter and Facebook.