To wrap up my recent series on auctions, I decided to try my hand at selling something on eBay: a Dell coupon. Here’s a frugal tip: if neither you nor family (or friends) needs a coupon like this, why not sell it? The coupon in question came with two codes, one for 35% off Dimension and Inspiron systems above $999 and one for $35 off electronics and accessories orders above $250. Selling it on eBay wasn’t an entirely smooth process, so I thought I’d list a few things I learned here:

1. Time your listing: Coupons will obviously sell better when there are fewer of them out there. In this case, Dell had issued similar coupons whose valid dates overlapped each other. Techbargains is a good place to check if there are other deals that might be combinable with your coupon, thus increasing demand. Coupons may also be in higher demand near their expiration dates, but if you go this route, make sure you plan your auction and delivery time correctly.
2. Hold a shorter-length auction rather than the normal 7 days: This works better with time-sensitive nature of coupons, and in case you run into a bad buyer (see below)
3. Know that you must physically send the coupon per eBay rules: eBay pays attention to manufacturers’ coupon rules (the coupons must be transferable, etc.) and won’t allow the seller to simply e-mail coupon codes for discounts. You can offer to email the codes as soon as the auction’s over, but you still must mail the physical coupon to the winner.
4. Restrict buyers: Again, due to the time-sensitive nature of coupons, if you run into an invalid buyer, the process for disputing the purchase will reduce the amount of time you have left to sell the coupon. Last week, several sellers (myself included) got their coupons bought by someone who had no intention of paying for the coupons.

   My guess is that it was just an unethical pre-emptive strike by another seller who only wanted his listing shown, so he bought up all his competitors’ listings. Ebay has an option that allows you to disallow bidders based on feedback and history, and while this may limit the number of bids you receive, it’s better than not being able to sell a coupon because it expires before you can disentangle yourself from actions by a fraudlent buyer.

Of course, the usual good tips for selling apply: be honest about the item, include pictures, any wording or official verbiage from the manufacturer, etc. In the end, my coupon sold for $25.50, including $1 for shipping. eBay made $2.78 from my listing (including $1.04 from PayPal) or 11% in fees. For those who don’t know, in order to use PayPal with eBay, they make you “upgrade” to premium or business status, which just means you get charged fees for receiving funds. Bummer.

It’s against eBay policies to do this, but I finally realized all those people who were charging $0.99 for the coupon but $35 for shipping rather than the other way around were doing it in order to avoid fees, and not (necessarily) screwing with bidders. Since the coupon was free, cost me $0.39 to mail (and again, ignoring the time spent listing the item), the lesson and experience in selling on eBay was pretty fun and worthwhile, and the money I made will no doubt be put to better use on a more necessary purchase elsewhere.

I first heard of this several years ago when I was working on the Navajo rez. There were a group of ladies who would get together one Saturday every month and knit bags made from plastic grocery bags. (Bags from Walmart were especially valued and collected from the neighborhood because they were a nice blue color.)

They were great bags to use for shopping or swimming since they were waterproof and could be thrown away (or recycled, if your town allows it; there were no such amenities there, unfortunately) once they were used up.

Since then, making crafts out of recycled bags has come a long way. I’ve knitted but am not much of a crocheter, but these crafts sure make me motivated to improve my skills. Some links below come with tutorials, some are just pics, but they all put to shame the plain plastic bag I knitted a couple of months ago!

1. The easiest way to make a ball of plastic bag “yarn”: The is the basis for all these projects, whether knitted or crocheted, and this method cuts down on cutting and scissor-work, believe me.
2. A crocheted grocery clutch
3. A knitted grocery clutch
4. A very pretty yellow backpack
5. Move over Tevas: Crocheted sandals

And finally, here’s someone in India who’s making seriously beautiful loomed bags, and helping out the local community by employing locals and getting rid of those eyesore piles of plastic. They’re so finely made that you’d never be able to tell their original source!

Here’s a spate of new sites and services to keep an eye on (or use, if you’re lucky enough to live in one of the cities they serve):

My final commentary on posts from the carnivals I’ve participated in this week is one from yesterday’s Festival of Frugality. Rebecca explains how watching fashion trends is frugal and shares some great tips on how to get the biggest bang for buck. Like many posts from that Festival, her advice is worth reading, and here are some more thoughts I have on the subject:

If you want to look truly fashionable, ignore US media. We’re a good 3-4 years behind the rest of the world. In fact, if you’ve ever checked out Vogue on the newsstands, you’ll notice that the British version differs from the Italian version, all of which are much different from the US version. Can’t find these imported magazines? Don’t worry, save the $10 and go online. My favorite fashion site to visit is Vogue España. (I’m strongly biased toward fashion from Spain and Italy.) You don’t have to read Spanish, but you can browse through the “Moda” section to see all the new styles and trends. “Tendencias” (trends), “Top 10”, and “Mode en la Calle” (snapshots of real people walking down the street that Vogue considers fashionable) are also great to browse through.

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Tired of heading to theme parks? The Travel Channel showed a program last night entitled “America’s Best Places to Find Cash & Treasures” and profiled several places where you and your family could spend a day hunting for fossils and semi-precious and precious stones.

Most of these places are rural and a bit out-of-the way but might make for a fun pit stop on a long cross-country road trip. I couldn’t find a link to the program and only caught part of it, so here are the sites they featured that I remember:

1. U-Dig Fossils, Delta, Utah: go hunting for fossils in a large quarry
2. Gem mining in Franklin, NC: buy a bucket of rocks on the cheap and pan away for gems
3. Royal Peacock Mine, Denio, NV: Bring a pickaxe, screwdriver, and a bucket of water to hunt for black opals, the rarest of them all.
4. Gems of Pala (at the Stewart Mine), Pala, CA: Just north of San Diego, go hunting for pink tourmaline.

There were a few other places that I didn’t catch for hunting gold and other goodies. The benefits of going to these places is that you’re doing something together as a family, you’re mostly outdoors enjoying the weather, and they’re definitely educational, since you’ll learn about how gemstones are created and what fossils creatures existed and when.

Besides, who doesn’t love a treasure hunt?