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!)

2000 Celebration Barbie

This was the first Barbie released in the 'Celebration' series, but the Celebration series didn't last all that long.  Shortly after 2003, it went back to the Holiday Barbie series.

However, this Barbie was released in replacement of the Holiday Barbie for the year 2000.
Much like the Millennium Princess, it came with a Christmas Ornament that reads '2000' in celebration of the new century.

Her hair is very different compared to other Holiday Barbies as it's so platinum, it's almost pure white.  Her hair though compliments her silver and gold dress making her a stunning addition to the collection!

1999 Blonde Millennium Princess Barbie with Swirl Background

The 1999 Millennium Princess Barbie with the Swirl Background is oldest of the releases within this year.

The original release was just a plain silver background with sparkles sprinkled all over it but there was no real pattern or style besides this.  About a month after being released, however, it was then re-released with the classic swirls to help celebrate the new year and is now one of the most common Holiday Barbies available.

1999 Teresa Millennium Princess

Starting in 1999, the Happy Holidays Barbie line changed into the 'Millennium Princess'.  It was only for this year though to celebrate the new century to come.

This is also the year the first 'Teresa' edition was added to the Holiday Barbie collection.  There were many brunettes but they were still considered 'Barbie'.  The best way to explain it is, Barbie had her hair dyed for a few years and then went back to Blonde.  Teresa, in the collection, is 'Barbie's Best Friend'.  She has her own standard look that sets her apart from the normal Barbie line.

On top of the brunette hair, this edition was dressed in an evergreen dress with silver inlay whereas the original Blonde Barbie is dressed in a velvet blue dress.

This version also comes with a Christmas ornament that can be hung on your own home Christmas tree. 

2010 Holiday Barbie with Necklace finally obtained!

After much patience, I finally was able to locate another 2010 Blonde Holiday Barbie with the Exclusive Necklace.

After the previous loss, it was very difficult to locate this Barbie, but it was necessary for the collection.

As odd at is seems, these Barbies, the ones with the necklace included, are the rarest Barbies to find.
 Most have been opened and are used because of this included necklace.  My own daughter has a hard time not looking at it and talking about 'wearing' the necklace one day.  Thankfully though, she knows better then to try and open the box, but I'll be on the hunt later on for this necklace outside the box, much like I'm searching for other Barbies who are not in their original box but come with all their accessories (including their stand) to be put on display in front of their 'boxed' counterparts.

Acquiring all the unboxed Barbies and accessories removes the temptation to open the ones in the box.

Contemplating Which Barbie to Get Next

 

One of the hardest things in collecting anything, is figuring out what to get next!

When you have just a large amount of 'collectibles' it's hard to figure out where to start.  Usually the best way to figure this out, is to decide which 'collectable' should be the most valuable and, then of course, work you way around collecting it.

In this case, it was originally a 1988 Happy Holiday's Barbie, Mint in Box (MIB) but now has been changed to a 1994 Happy Holiday's Barbie, Festival Brunette.

This new 'goal' barbie would be the JEWEL of the collection (right next to the 1988 of course!)

So now I'm actually kind of drowning in the choices when I look around at the ones we still need.
Normally I usually start from the bottom and work my way up to collecting them all, but that can get boring so sometimes it's easier to make little 'goals' within the main goal of collecting them all.

Example, on top of collecting the 'jewel' of the collection, the first goal would be to gather at least one Happy Holidays Barbie that fell between 1990 to 1999, basically get one of each of the '90's' Barbies.  Once that goal is complete, create a new goal, until finally, you have all the goals completed, and thus, a complete set.

So that's where I'm kind of stuck at this moment.
We have collected at least one of each year from 1988 to 1998!

From here, we must move into gathering a 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010 & 2012.

Normally, I would say, that's the next goal, to gather at least one of each 2000 Barbie (including the 1999) but that seems to pose a problem all by itself!

These particular Barbies, even though they're the newer models, tend to be more expensive then any of the 1990s no matter where you look.  Why?  Because of how beautifully they were created AND who they were created by!

That makes the  hunt for these Barbies, much more difficult!
So that's where I'm stuck at the moment trying to figure out what the next 'realistic' goal should be.  As far as the Holiday Barbie world goes, grabbing all 2000 in the same month is very UNrealistic without making yourself go broke!  If you're curious to know why, check out my 'value' list and add all the NRFB prices or MIB prices together (at least just one for each year) and tell me if you have the money to just dump that out in 'one' month.


What I am thinking about, is starting to collect all the African American Barbies between 1990 to 1999 and slowly pick up a 2000s or two on the side while working on that.

Let me know what direction you would go if you were in my shoes!

Please check out my 'check list' for Holiday Barbies to see which ones I've already collected for my daughter and the 'Value' listings  of what the costs roughly fall under!