Working through all the changes

These past 12 months have been very difficult to move through.

It has put a temporary halt on our Holiday Barbie search and caused us to reconsider how we're going to go about resuming it.

With the unexpected lost of my father last August, the surprise pregnancy of our 3rd child due this August, and this incredible weather we've been experiencing our wallet has been taking a major hit.

I've been long awaiting the end of this dreaded winter, but it didn't seem to come until the beginning of May, much later than what was expected, and now trying to grab every last thing for our new addition, budgeting for Holiday Barbies has been extremely tight.

Not surprisingly, our sales have plummeted for our cell cases, so it has been putting a harder squeeze on our cash flow so there has been no room to breathe for the collection.

In anticipation of this we've even set up an exclusive BOGO sale on our cases, making the entire store:  
Buy 2 - Get 1 50% Off at this link: http://ebay.us/5uvBRq

 Although, not to worry, we're still on the search and keeping an eye out for the best deals on the missing collection pieces, we're just crossing our fingers that we don't miss out while we wait for this financial storm to lift!

Please feel free to browse our eBay Store: Artsy Cell Cases and take advantage of our BOGO sale!

Remember, this is an exclusive BOGO sale that we specifically made for you, our wonderful viewers!  You can view our store anytime but to take avantage of the BOGO make sure you visit this specific link: http://ebay.us/5uvBRq or click the picture above (linked to the same BOGO sale).

Have a great day everyone! ^_^

1997 BLONDE CLUB HOLIDAY BARBIE!

This 1997 Blonde Holiday Barbie is one I've been watching for a long long time...

This Barbie was only released to 'Barbie Club Members' around the time of the Holidays... meaning, unless you paid the fee to join the Barbie Collector Club, you couldn't have this Barbie (unless you bought it from another member, but they would have jacked up the price!).

The only prices I could find for this Barbie were between $100 to $150... however, patience is a great virtue and after months and months of watching, I finally found one for only a fraction of the price!

I am very excited to add this Barbie to my daughter's collection and again, this is a picture of the Barbie was won at auction so I will still have to do my own inspection when it arrives but I'm confident that this Barbie will be in great shape!

Very excited to cross this one off our collection list!!

I'll be posting updates about the inspection of all 3 of our latest Holiday Barbies Barbies!

2001 Celebration Barbie is now on it's way!

 

Shortly after obtaining the 2002, 

I was able to locate a 2001 Celebration Barbie at about the same price as the 2002.

Just like the 2002, I had to be patient with the auctions, but it paid off and we were able to grab this one!

We're waiting for this one to arrive as well and we will be doing a full inspection of it when it does, but like the 2002, it looks in great condition!

The reason these Barbies are not called 'Holiday Barbies' but are still part of the collection is due to Matell trying to take a sharp left in the series after the value of the collection crashed...

After 1998 Holiday Barbie was released, everything that seemed collectable started to become... worthless.  There were just too many too soon, and when everyone has one, then no one wants one, making the overall value next to nothing.

With the new millennium coming up, they decided to release a new Barbie at the same time as they would the Holiday Barbies, but they just gave them a different name, the Millennium Barbies.  They were set up for 1999 and 2000 release... however, they decided to try and 'rename' the Holiday series again, and moved onto a new name, the 'Celebration' Barbie... which would be the 2002 and 2001 releases.  In 2003, Matell even went further then that to come up with a completely new Barbie, name it the Winter Fantasy 2003 Barbie, again releasing it the same time the Holiday Barbies would have been released... it wasn't until 2004 that they finally decided to go back to the Holiday Barbie name.

Many thought and still think today, that because of the 'break' Matell took in the name, that the 1999 through 2003 Barbies shouldn't count as part of the series, but after awhile, it just became accepted.

I mean, how can you have a 'series' if there's 4 years missing of Barbies, it would seem very odd.

So now we have the Millennium Barbies for 1999 and 2000, the Celebration Barbies for 2001 to 2002 and the Winter Fantasy for 2003!

Awaiting our newest addition, the 2002 Celebration Barbie!

 

This here is actually a picture of the Barbie that we were able to obtain on eBay!

Thanks to eBay's 'eBucks' system, their buy back program, we were able to obtain quite a bit over these past few months and used it to our full advantage in obtaining a handful of new Holiday Barbies to add to my daughter's collection!

This was the first of three we obtained, and thankfully, we were patient with the auction.

Due to the upcoming Holidays and inevitable winter approaching, everyone is staying off their computers and working to prepare themselves at home.  This is typical for anyone when the weather is nice, I mean, who wants to stay inside with 70-80 degrees outside?  Certainly not me or my children!

However, this gave a great opportunity to snatch a few auction Barbies and I was thankful to find this one at the price that I did!  Normally these are one of the hard to find and expensive Holiday Barbies, but we were able to grab it at less then $15!

I will post updates here when it arrives after we do a thorough inspection of it, but from the pictures, it looks to be in great shape! 

A Very Much Needed Update on the Holiday Barbie Collection!

It's been almost 2 months since my last post but I can assure you all that it certainly was not intentional.

Tragically and very unexpectedly, I lost my father on August 10th 2013, very shortly after my last post here.  His name was Robert Sumner and his loss was both sudden and devastating to my entire family line and to all who knew him.

Although he did not look it, he had just turned 50 years old, in my own opinion he was still very young, and I did not see this coming... not at least for another 30 or even 40 years...  My children were his only grandchildren and he was very involved in their lives and he will be missed by all.

His loss was devastating and in order to cope, I had to back away from the entire online world for quite some time.  Even my Facebook page and eBay store took a hit from my absence, but it was all so I could get my head screwed on straight and pull myself back on my feet.  My daughter and son were very close with him also, and they are still working through this with me one day at a time.

But it's time to start coming back to old routines because time does not stand still for anyone, for any reason, so here I am again.

To be completely honest, my drive to collect is because of him.  Growing up I'd watch him collect all kinds of things, Baseball/Football Trading Cards, Beanie Babies, Pokemon Cards, Video Games, just anything you could think of!  Now, I am sorting through his many many collections, mainly his trading card collection and trying to help others fulfill their collections as he did.

I would keep each card myself but unfortunately, beyond opening the packages with him and handing him the cards, I knew little about them or Sports in general!  I know very few baseball or football players by name, I don't even know all the sport names!  I can tell you about the Florida Dolphins with Dan Marino because of the Ace Venture Pet Detective and I only know about the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers because I live on the border of Pennsylvania and an hour away from Pittsburgh (and also because my father was an avid Steelers fan and could talk about them from dusk til dawn)!  I also know about the Dallas Cowboys, but I don't know a person that doesn't... but that's about it.

So because of that, I am now wading through and researching his trading cards and attempting to trade them off with other avid collectors who I know will take very good care of them as I know that's what he would want.

As for the Holiday Barbie Collection, I am again looking for the next Barbie to add to my daughter's collection!  My father knew I was working on this collection the moment I bought the first Barbie for my daughter.  Each one that followed, my daughter was always eager to show it off to her grandfather and also show him how large her collection was growing.  We know he would be proud of both of us for continuing the passion of collecting items like my daughter's Holiday Barbie collection so we will keep on collecting for both my daughter and for him.

Between everything that's happened lately and the upcoming Holidays, however, it may be some time before I am able to grab the next Barbie for my daughter, but I'll keep on searching in the meantime!

But at least I can take these pictures of the collection so far!  Yes, these are direct pictures of my daughter's collection, not all of them as it's hard to fit them all in one shot, but you can get an idea...

So we're now back to saving up on the side for the next addition to the collection! 
Hopefully soon my daughter and I will be able to announce that we've obtained the 1994 Limited Brunette Happy Holidays Barbie!

One can only hope!

How to fund your Barbie Collection

In earlier blogs, I explained how to control your spending when it comes to investing in a collection.  Now I'm going to share with you what I do to help fund my daughter's Holiday Barbie Collection.

When I first purchased the 1988 Holiday Barbie, I did not pay for it using one of my checks.  I paid for it using the funds I'd received from selling my own home items. 

Most of these items included old and new clothes that had been in storage, others included purses or shoes that had never been worn or used.  It is true that, 'One man's trash is another man's treasure'!  Something that you might find useless may be just what another person is looking for!  A perfect example is the Holiday Barbies that you're buying!  Most of these sellers are selling these Barbies that they've been keeping in their attic for years and years and now they find it's just taking up space and they just want someone to take it off their hands and you are that person!

There are many websites out there that offer you the chance to sell your items, but the one that's at the top is and always has been, eBay!

It can be very nerve-racking at first when you start to try and wrap your head around everything eBay wants you to do in order to sell an item, but I'm here to tell you it's must easier then it sounds!

First off, and most importantly, eBay allows you to list up to 50 items for FREE at any cost you want!  Almost a decade earlier, if you wanted to sell and item, eBay would let you at no cost, but only if you started the listing at $0.01.  Some items this was great for, such as very popular items like a cell phone because you'd get instant publicity to your listing and end up with a lot of money... but if you had something that wasn't worth much at all or was an odd item that not many people knew about, you could possibly find yourself PAYING to get rid of it in the end!

With the new rules allowing any price with the listing, it makes it much easier to decide your own price, just like a personal garage sale! 

Now I'm going to let you in on a secret about selling eBay, it's all about the 'FREE Shipping'!

Now you might say, "Why would I list something with Free Shipping that might cost ME over $15 to ship!  Won't I lose money?"  The answer is Yes, if you do it the WRONG way.  This is the big secret about ALL eBay sellers that use Free Shipping... they ADD that shipping into the MAIN cost!  So, for example, you find a shirt for $10 with Free Shipping attached... what that means is that shirt is REALLY being sold for about $7 and you're paying the extra $3 for it to be shipped!

Why do sellers add the shipping cost into the main price?  Simple!  It gets buyers!  Think about it, if you were buying something on eBay, who would you buy it from?  Someone that says they want you to pay $15 for the item and $10 for the shipping costs, or someone who's offering you the same item for $25 and FREE Shipping.  Face it, you're going to pick the guy with the word FREE next to it.  It's simple to figure out the end cost, you don't have to worry about any back-end fees (because eBay does charge a final value fee on the item you sell AND the shipping cost!) and people just like getting 'Free' anything because it's Free!

Since I started selling on eBay to help fund my daughter's cost, I've made enough to order all the Holiday Barbies I have for her today!  But I too knew that one day my basement junk was going to run out, so I had to look for an alternative... and developed a new niche that has become very successful!

Many years ago, I worked for one of the biggest cell phone companies.  I learned a lot there, and more importantly, how the real world of cell phones work.  Cell phones today differ greatly from what they once were.  Everyone remembers those dinosaur and candy bar phones.. the ones that were impossible to break?  Well now there are new, thin, fragile phones that are worth as much as a laptop computer!  Cell phone cases are desperately needed now more then ever to keep phones intact and to keep you from buying another one that might cost you your entire pay check!  That case can be the difference between the life and death of your phone!  That being said, it can cost you almost $100 to get, what most people think is, the best case on the market.  What most people don't know though is those Lifeproof cases, are NOT lifeproof.  On top of that, cases like LifeProof, make the phone almost impossible to use!  They're bulky, almost impossible to take off without damaging the phone once they're on, and have even been known to block the signal at times (same goes for the Otterboxes!)...

Having all this in mind, I began to sell Artsy Cell Phone Cases.  These cases, made of a silicon rubber, are just as protective as any other case, including the expensive ones, on the market with one more thing in mind, YOU.  You need to USE your phone on top of protecting it, otherwise, why do you have it?  This is what I had in mind when I went out looking for the most beautiful, protective and useful cell phone cases I could find at the lowest price.

These cases are now what fund my daughter's Holiday Barbie Collection.  It has become so successful, I've even been able to open an eBay store!  I new, based on my own knowledge, that I would have some sales, but I never though they would rise to what they are now!  I've even opened up another Blog here on Blogger to announce when cases are restocked or new designs come in, or when I get a new type of phone case! 

The feedback has been amazing and the goal to obtain every Holiday Barbie and Happy Holiday's Barbie for my daughter's collection has never been more in reach then it is now!

If you're in need of a cell phone case, please visit my eBay store and have a look at what I have available!  And remember, these cases are being sold in order to further my daughter's collection and ultimately, put her through college!

I ship EVERYWHERE so you could be in Japan and I'll still send you case!  In fact, international sales are my favorites as I love the thought of sending my cases over the ocean or across the borders to places I could only dream of going one day.  My daughter also enjoys hearing of the different countries and cities these cell phone cases travel to, it's like we are traveling there ourselves!

So please, at least have a look, there are plenty to choose from and I'll even be adding HTC One cases this coming week, (and hopefully many more in the future as well!)  If you have a phone that I don't have a case for, list what your phone is here in the comments!  It might just be the next phone that I go looking for cases for next!

Here's a link directly to my eBay store:
http://stores.ebay.com/ArtsyCellCases

and you can also click the banner at the top of this post and go straight there!
Thanks for at least taking the time to view them! 


You can do what I did right here too!  Just find what you're good at and take it and make it work for you!  If you're an hands on person and like to create things, then do it!  Work out a plan and then sell your artwork on Etsy (the perfect sale website for handcrafted items!) If you have an eye for a bargin, you could always go out and shop and then resell your bargains online at their true full value!  There just so much you can do and everyone is great at something, so take what you're good at and turn it into your financial support for your own collection!

2013 HOLIDAY BARBIE RELEASED!!

I've been waiting for this Holiday Barbie ALL YEAR LONG, and then happened upon it by accident!

Not even the Barbie Collector website has this Barbie listed as available as of yet, they don't even have a picture of it!  But it is available at one of the most common stores in America (and no I don't mean Wal-Mart, I mean their competitor with a similar name, GUESS WHO!)

I personally have ordered the classic Blonde AND the EXCLUSIVE (and FIRST) Auburn Hair 2013 Holiday Barbie!!  Personally, I'm using my Birthday this month as the perfect excuse to order these without hesitation and I'm excited to know I'll have them both on my shelf for my daughter in less then 5 days!

 

These are the 25th Anniversary Holiday Barbies (The first Happy Holiday's Barbie being released in 1988), dressed beautifully in a sparkling silver dress, covered in glittering snowflakes and placed inside a sleek red box decorated to fit this new Holiday season!

If you can figure out who's selling them (and I practically gave it away to all of you!) grab one while you can!  Being an anniversary Holiday Barbie ensures it's value will be high and the exclusives will fly off the shelves as all other exclusives do too!  These pictures here are of the new Barbie that were presented to me on the store's website, so check out their new beauty!

I'll be updating the collectors list with these new additions as well based on sales I've already been seeing on various websites to give you all an idea of what you're REALLY getting!! (and it's far more then the sticker price, I can assure you of that!)