Who wants to buddy up?!

Aesop

Found the thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/343625

happy_money

Thanks aureol212! I'll definately be having a read of that thread with interest!

lorriellah

Hey all how we all doing? lalli not seen you on here for a bit? Hope you're doing ok?
I've not sold anything on amazon for 6 days now so it's a bit quiet. Have listed 9 items on ebay and got watchers on 4 already so fingers crossed they'll sell.

Well news on my part- I've given up my job! I've handed my notice in and have to work my 3 month notice period then that's it! Ws a pretty big decision but we're moving house and we've looked into how much it will cost to commute and pay for childcare (it's more expensive where we're moving to) and it just isn't worth it. So I'm going to be a stay at home mum for a bit and just do my freelance work in the evenings until we're settled and then I'll look for something else... not sure what though!

lalli_pickle

Woohoo I'm back, damn laptop died on me well and truly scuppering all moneymaking for a few days
Goodluck Loz with the move and so on, have you found a buyer yet?
I have some listings on ebay today so hopefully will be back on the money making trail again. My last day at work is the 26th and I've had some offers of contract work but nothing set as yet so keeping my fingers crossed. On the plus side I still have jobs number 2 and 3 which will keep my hours worked at 35+ so will hopefully get tax credits bumped up until I can get a real job again lol.

And newbies as well, welcome and hello

cocoloco

Hi all, just a quick update on the savings front. Since my last e-bay re-listing 5 items sold and an other 2 have a bid on it. I think I have to get an other load on - I usually tend to do 10-15 at a time but it can be a real struggle.
I have also sold an other book on amazon- it gave me £9 after amazon took its fees BUT the postage costed £6!!! Between the 5 items on ebay and the book an amazon I cleared £14. Well, it will all add up at the end...

To summarize -£435 saved to date- only (!) £665 to go...

I think I will feel a little better once I passed the halfway point.

Wow Lorrie, great stuff... its nice to be able spend some time with your young one. Knowing you I'm sure you will be able make plenty on the side with ciao, amazon etc... Moving is perfect excuse to get rid of things- I would suggest a couple carboot sales- its alsways a good way to get rid of large quantities of stuff.

Welcome back lalli- I don't know how did you managed without your laptop?!? No ebay? No amazon? No moneysavingexpert forum? No surveys? I would rather would give up my TV than my internet access...

Ps- I have came accross some small bits of jewellery on the bottom of an old box- now, I'm not sure if they are real gold or not but I think I will try to sell them on to 'hatton garden metals' a postal gold buying company that I dealt with before (very good experience) and also was strongly recommended on the forum. Fingers crossed that it is gold rather than just costume jewellery... (just my luck...). I will update you soon!

lalli_pickle

Oh, it was hell without the laptop, had to manage with the dreaded BB only and the internet on that is shocking, kept getting email queries from ebay and so on but couldn't log in to answer them!
On the plus side, Amazon has gone mad over the past day or so 12 sales! I went through yesterday and lowered all my prices to the lowest bid and it seems to have worked, they're flying out.
Ebay sales also going well and house emptying nicely.
Job hunting not so good but I've discovered that tax credits will pretty much bring me up to the same income level and then I'll be eligible for HB again. Bit disappointed to have to go back on HB as I was so proud of myself to effectively be supporting myself on my income and not relying on the government to bail me out, but needs must I suppose. With any luck I'll be back up working within the month and then I can come back off again.
Anyway, off back to work now, talk laters

cocoloco

Wow lalli, great job with amazon and e-bay! :beer:
I have 2 sales with amazon yesterday, stil find it very strange that people actully buying my books!
PS- what do you think about people keep lowering the prices to try to undercut you? How do you counter-act it?

I have also signed up with onepoll and yougov- survey sites, if anybody needs any more info or want to sign up please let me know and I can forward a referral link...

fozzeh

Eugh well what a day! Dooyoo have suspended my account and Ive been trying to speak to someone about it all day. This happened once with Ciao and the reason is you're only allowed one account per person but both my husband and I are registered with them so they can see that our IP address has two usernames. When we rang up Ciao and explained that we are two separate people living at the same address n could provide id with our driving licences they soon reactivated my account but I haven't got hold of anyone from dooyoo yet to explain it... and I had £50 on my account and my husband also had about £45 so that's nearly £100 down I am so frustrated I just hope they'll be as efficient as Ciao and get it up and running again. It's a shame becuase I've recommended them and praised them highly in this forum...

I've had no amazon sales for a week and then today i got 3!! Looks like we're all doing well with amazon!

I hope you find a job soon lalli so you can support yourelf again but at least you can have HB to help you out whilst you need it.

Fingers crossed for us all x

lalli_pickle

Oh no, hope you get back up again soon. I can see why they might do that for fraud prevention but it's not as though you're both writing the same reviews (I hope). They can't really expect you both to use the same account, and what would they do for student accomodation where everyone is using the same internet connection, I've seen 12 or more people logged on in one house over a weekend, would they ban everyone do you think?

With amazon I have noticed a lot of people knocking their prices down by 1p less than mine. To be honest, with a lot of my romances I only paid 10 or 20p and they cost about 80p to post all in so even if I sell them for 1p I'm making a profit. I've also listed anything I think will sell well on ebay, so a book that I'd put on amazon for 1p and make 40p odd I can put up on ebay for 40p and then undercut some of the ebay sellers, naughty but effective.
I now have £295 in my 'business' savings account (after laptop and holiday I thought that was quite good ) and I've just transferred another £100 from paypal. Landlady has agreed to waive last 18 days rent payment and will just deduct it from deposit so depending on how much of the house damage she agrees as wear and tear I will have on 1 Sep £750 extra (what I would have paid in rent money) plus between £0 and say £350 deposit returned, so on worse case scenario, no deposit returned, I should have £395+£750 = £1,145 meaning I need to make £355 over the next month for deposit plus around £300 childcare so new total needed say £700 which means I need to make £23 per day this next month.
I've been listing around 10-20 items on amazon a day so have about 140 on there now and I've sold 45 so far making a total of £85 less postage of £15 = profit £70 so as a rough estimate, if I sell all amazon stuff that'll bring in £245. I'll make around £100 if everything on ebay sells. I have around £40 unbilled bookkeeping and one client that I bill roughly £10-15 a week (1 hours work per week) so thats £80. I have about £5 on survey sites and £40 odd on cashback sites which is due for payment this month or next. £25 mystery shopping. Dooyoo and Ciao are still pennies so I need to put a bit more effort in there. That totals £495, so the extra money I need to make an effort to earn is £205 which is £7 per day or £50 per week. I think I might put some of my furniture and odds and ends like the ice cream maker that are too heavy to post on the local Friday ad, it's free listing and I have around £100 worth of unused (for the past year) electrical kitchen gadgets plus 2 beds, a bookcase, computer desk, sofa, dinner table and chairs so that all looks promising.

For some reason all the flats I've looked at are part furnished, either because they're on the top floor or because it's good stuff that the landlord doesn't want to chuck but already has and so on so I don't really need a lot of my furniture any more. Housemate has also decided to get rid of a load of her stuff, same deal as last time, I list and pay all fees and then take 50% of sale price. Her stuff is nicer than mine anyway so I'll make a few bob from that, so.....

Overall I think I can do it if I put a bit of effort in :j

Bit of a long post I know but it's really helped with my motivation just seeing it all written down and knowing that it is possible. And actually, if I'm able to generate an extra £700 odd a month that equates to minimum wage for the average full time hours so I'm not just wasting my time playing on the computer as my mum puts it :rotfl:

How's everyone else doing, it's been a bit quiet lately.

cocoloco

:beer:Great stuff Lalli!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
'You'r on a pig's back' as a local (?) saying goes.....:rotfl: