These things are interactive monkey toys that wrap around your finger or other straight things (poles, pencils, etc). That’s about all I know about them, haha. What matters is that they are money makers! As happens with most toys that go crazy like these, they have become restricted on Amazon for sellers who had not already sold them. But they are still selling for just as much on eBay and sometimes more when you start bundling them together.

In brick and mortar retail stores, they cost between $14-$16 and come in a range of different styles/colors, 6 in total I believe. But, good luck finding them! If you do find them, buy them all and get them listed!

On Amazon, sellers have them listed for anywhere between $27-$39 depending on color and whether a Prime offering.

On eBay, the money is as good, but it is still good. They are selling for anywhere from $25 and up, again, depending on color and if multiple in a lot.

It looks like the rare, hardest to find is the Unicorn Fingerling, so if you come across one of those, you can fetch close to $50 for it. Not a bad return on investment! These are one of the hottest toys for this holiday season/4th Quarter, so keep your eyes peeled.

According to the Fingerlings website, the major retail stores carry them – Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, Best Buy, Game Stop, Barnes & Noble. Some stores have them hanging on racks and some are just sitting on shelves, so you will have to keep your eyes peeled. I passed by them at Target one day and then when I went back 2 days later to get them they were gone…so they are moving quick.

When hunting for this BOLO (Be On The Look Out), look in the same aisle as Hatchimals and the other little pet toys. If the store carries them, you should find the empty shelf space for where they should be. Then you know where to look next time you are in that store.

Happy hunting!

Courtney cleaned her closet out not too long ago and that meant most of the clothes are going on eBay. Her Lularoe collection is out of control, of course, but I’ve been selling what she didn’t want any more and leggings and shirts have been moving pretty decently. Here’s a snapshot of some of the leggings that sold a few weeks ago when I first got about a dozen pairs listed.

Keep in mind, when new from a consultant, the leggings are usually $25 unless a person is running a sale. So I figured it I can list for $14.99 plus shipping and sell for above $12 at Best Offer, then I am happy.

I haven’t been able to hit the thrift stores much lately, so I haven’t had many good flips from #Goodwill or #SalvationArmy but do have some clothing from them that still needs to be listed and should sell soon.

I am looking forward to the new challenge and change of pace. I’ll miss all the great work and people at NG that I’ve worked with over the past almost 10 years but am looking forward to the new opportunity to help an organization grow, mature their proposal process, and win more business.

It feels weird only having 1 cell phone again. .. After 9.5 years with @northropgrumman , today I turned in my badge and will start a new chapter next week with a new company. It was a great experience working with such great people, on cool technology & products that protect the nation and our war fighhters, and of course having the opportunity to spend almost 4 years living & working in Colorado. Can’t wait to see what the future holds!

A post shared by Chris Pund (@chrispund) on Oct 13, 2017 at 10:44pm PDT

A couple months back I was in a Goodwill doing the usual sourcing, checking out clothes, electronics, and anything else that was new in the package. I happened to be walking along the electronics shelf when this bright white speaker stood out on the shelf, right at eye level. I don’t usually mess with used electronics like speakers and DVD players, but now I am going to keep looking! Sitting there on the shelf was a SONOS Play:3 speaker. I had never heard of the brand but decided to look it up on Amazon. I knew it would be easy to ship in to FBA if the price was good.

Well to my surprise, the price was GREAT. And the rank was good too! Brand new, the speaker retails for $299, used they were selling for around $250. Score! I grabbed it and headed straight to the check out counter, I didn’t even bother looking at anything else.

Now, this post is supposed to be about eBay, let’s lets talk about that. The used speakers sell just as well on eBay as Amazon. So when I went to get it listed on Amazon, I also snapped a few quick pictures and put together a listing on eBay for it as well. Nothing like doubling your chances of a quick sale right? Listing it for $239.99 with free shipping. Seemed reasonable to me for the condition it was in. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fully test it since I don’t have the rest of a SONOS system just laying around. But they did power on and that was good enough for me.

A lot of low ball offers came in but eventually a buyer and I met at a price of $220 for the speaker. Want to know the best part? I paid only $5.99 for the speaker! Plus it sold within just a few days of being listed on eBay.

The speaker is not light, about 6 pounds, so once packed, it cost around $13 to ship, but still, that’s $200 profit before fees.
So let’s break down the full numbers and see what the final profit was for the his bad boy.

Oh, and remember how I said the best part was that the price was only $5.99? That was kind of a lie, the even better “best part” was that there was 2 of them! And both sold on eBay for about the same price, again within just a few days of listing it!

Bam! I’ll take that any day of the week.

What was your best sale of the week?

While a little bit out of the way from Moab and the main attraction of Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point gives some amazing views and a chance for the dog to stretch his legs after being jammed in a car for 5 hours.

Wondering where the name for the park came from? Here’s what the Utah State Park website has to say:

Dead Horse Point is a peninsula of rock atop sheer sandstone cliffs. The peninsula is connected to the mesa by a narrow strip of land called the neck. There are many stories about how this high promontory of land received its name.

According to one legend, around the turn of the century the point was used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa top. Cowboys rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck, which is only 30-yards-wide, was then fenced off with branches and brush. This created a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs straight down on all sides, affording no escape. Cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and let the culls or broomtails go free. One time, for some unknown reason, horses were left corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below.

We didn’t have a bunch of time to spend in the park as we wanted to checked into our campground and hit the grocery store, but we did do a drive of the park plus check out some of the overlooks of Dead Horse Point. Here’s a few pictures from our quick visit.

Getting There:
From Moab, head 9 miles northwest on US 191 out of town (as if going towards I-70) and hang a left on Utah 313 for 23 miles until you see signs for the park.

Park Fees:
Day Use:$10 per vehicle
Utah state Parks are also valid
Camping is also available!

The other weekend when we decided we wanted to do some hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park, we decided to head to the Grand Lake Entrance and side of the park for the first time. Typically we head right to Estes Park and into the park that way, which is where the majority of the hiking trails (and crowds) are, so this time we thought we would try something different.

To reach the Grand Lake Entrance to the park, you take a nice drive out I-70 West to Empire and then through the towns of Winter Park, Granby, and Grand Lake. Since we hadn’t stopped in any of these mountain towns yet, it was nice to take a detour from our normal route and see some different areas. We’ll certainly have to venture back that way for longer than just a pit stop.

Once we reached RMNP, you are already on Trail Ridge Road which is one of the highest paved roads in the country. It connects the Grand Lake side of the park to the other side and is closed for about half the year depending on snow & weather conditions.

Originally our plan was to walk along the Coyote Valley Trail and then head up and over Trail Ridge and back down to Estes Park and exit the park that way. Well, we hiked the Coyote Valley Trail, road up to the Trail Ridge Visitors Center, but decided to just go back out the way we had come into the park.

Anyway, back to the trail report for the hiking… that’s really what matters anyway, right?

Coyote Valley Trail

The Coyote Valley Trail (CVT for short) is about 5.5 miles after the Grand Lake Entrance to the park. It will be on the left hand side of the road and does not have a ton of parking, but since it is such a short and quick trail, you should be able to find a spot. When we were there, there were cars parked on both sides of the trailhead road as well as at the actual trailhead parking since it was so full. Many people come to this area to fish along the river, so it may be crowded!

We actually snagged a parking spot right in front of the trail and by the bathrooms and trashcans, which was kind of nice. It made it very easy to access the trail and other amenities.

Knowing we were going to be getting to the park around lunch time, we packed the cooler for a picnic lunch and figured we would eat at the trailhead or find somewhere else with tables.

Once we got there, I went to check the map & bulletin board out and noticed that they have a great little loop off of the trail that has a bunch of picnic tables – great, we could pack up our lunches, eat, and then get in a quick hike too. Well as I was looking around, I also noticed that the trail was handicap accessible! A big plus since most trails are not going to be. BUT, as a parent, that also meant it was stroller accessible! Woohoo!

So we threw our lunches in the stroller, plopped Bailey in, and we were off! After you cross the river, the trail splits and to the left are a handful of picnic tables around a circle and to the right is the rest of the trail.

Some have shade and some don’t.
Some give you some great views of the meadows and mountains and others views of the river.
A really nice spot to stop.

After we finished lunch, it started to rain a little so we waited it out for a few minutes underneath a tree and then headed back to the main trail. The rain only stuck around for a minute before the clouds moved off into the distance and the sky cleared back up; so it was time to hit the trail.

From the picnic circle, we headed back towards the bridge and down the main Coyote Valley trail. The trail is flat and well maintained. It is wheelchair accessible so it is a night graded trail and wide enough for wheelchairs to pass in most areas. You’ll pass the river multiple times on your side and also come across some other little ponds depending on the time of year and how much rain there has been.

Unfortunately, there’s really not too much to report about the actual trail itself. It’s basically flat, easy going walking and will take you about 0.5 miles out into the meadow before coming to a dead end and you return back the way you came to the parking lot, for a total of roughly 1.0 mile.

There are a few signs posted along the way sharing some of the history of the Kawuneeche meadows and area which is always great to read about. From hunting grounds for the Utes and Arapaho Indians, mining towns for gold prospectors in the 1870’s, homesteaders trying to ranch the land, tourism offerings through the Never Summer Ranch and others in the 1920’s, and finally 1975 when the Kawuneeche Valley was added to Rocky Mountain National Park.

After our hike, we loaded back up into the car and ventured up Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitors Center for a quick stop and then returned to the valley floor and back out of the park. All in all, it was a great day spent in one of the most visited National Parks in the country.

More trip reports and trail details for other parts of the Park will be coming in other posts! So stay tuned for details on the Fern Lake Trail, Bear Lake Trail, and more.

So for this trip we decided to stay at the Grand Junction KOA (Kampground of America). We’ve stayed at a number of other KOA’s throughout the country on different road trips, so this was a “safe bet” rather than a campground we had never been to or heard of. The nice things about KOA’s are typically the amenities, if you want to use them, like a swimming pool, showers, mini golf, wifi, etc. The downside is of course all the people who think a 40 foot fifth wheel trailer or RV is camping. This weekend we decided to fall in the middle and rented a Deluxe Cabin at the KOA. The small studio type cabin had just enough amenities to make the weekend comfortable with the dog and baby, but a little more room certainly would have been nice, since it was a little tight.

LOCATION

Many of the other KOA’s that I have stayed at are pretty close to the highway or literally just off the highway. The added road nose can be a real pain when tractor trailers are flying down the highway in the middle of the night and you are trying to sleep. However, the Grand Junction KOA was nicely located off a “major” road for the area but not a major highway like I-70. It was easy to get to Palisades & Grand Junction very quickly and the noise was not noticeable inside the cabin, however, it may have been for the tent campers. An added bonus for some the weekend that we were there was that the County Fair was happening…and it was right next door at the fairgrounds. While we didn’t venture to the fair for cheap game prizes or a funnel cake, we did get to watch a nice fireworks display Saturday night until Bailey started crying from the noise.

With a short 20ish minute drive to the Colorado National Monument, it was a great location for our Saturday adventure into the National Park.

COST

Since Grand Junction is a smaller town but still one of the last large towns going from Colorado into Utah, we could have easily stayed at a hotel for cheaper than the KOA. But being in one small hotel room with a dog and a baby is not that much fun, plus having to eat out for all meals and not being able to enjoy any outdoor time was not what we were looking for. Looking at hotel rooms in the area, we could have stayed for about $50/night. The KOA Deluxe Cabin with a bathroom was about $87/night. Because we had our dog with us that added a little extra per night as well as an additional $5 cleaning fee…not a big deal. Total price for the 2 nights came out around $190 after taxes and everything.

STUDIO/DELUXE CABIN SIZE

The size of the cabin is actually pretty good…for the main area. The main living space features a kitchen area which has a 2 burner stove, microwave, cabinets, some extra counter top prep space, and a small refrigerator. The kitchen was stocked with pots & pans, flatware for 4 people, and some cooking utensils.

There was a small table that had 4 chairs with it…with 4 people this would have been way to small.

The Bathroom was a good size with a tub/shower combo, small sink and toilet. There was also some storage space for your toiletries and towels. Toilet paper, a hand towel, and trash bags were provided.

For sleeping, the cabin had one queen bed in its own room and then a set of bunk beds in the main part of the cabin. Since we didn’t use the bunk beds for sleeping they were good storage for us and a place to throw stuff to get it out of the way. We had a pack and play for our daughter to sleep in and there was enough room to put that against the edge of the bunk bed and then still walk by to get to the bathroom. In the ‘bedroom’ where the queen bed was…it was tight to say the least. There was maybe a foot of space between the bed and the walls all around so it made it tight to walk around the bed and the dog had a hell of a time turning around once he walked down one of the sides, funny to watch actually. An extra 6-12 inches of space on each side would have been perfect.

CABIN AMENITIES

Beyond the kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping space I discussed above, I also wanted to mention the other amenities of the cabin that were nice to haves. Inside, the cabin had a nice air conditioner that really cooled the space well. Then there were 2 ceiling fans which helped to move the cool air around.

Outside, the designated space included an above ground fire pit, a patio table and chairs, and a pretty nice 4 burner gas grill. Propane included! While we didn’t get to enjoy the fire pit much because of a rain storm that moved in Saturday night, it was a nice size and would have held a healthy fire. There was a cooking grate with it too if you wanted to cook your food right over the fire instead of using the grill. The fire pit also had a nice spark guard lid to keep the embers from flying out during the wind gusts, so that was great.

CAMPGROUND AMENITIES

Being a KOA, the campground is set up to provide things for families to do during the day or night, which is pretty nice compared to other campgrounds that you are just camping at with nothing else to entertain you. The campground had an indoor arcade featuring a pool table, a small outdoor mini golf course, a large checkers game board, a swimming pool, big wheel pedal karts, and playground. For the dog owners, they had 2 nice little dog runs/play areas to let your dog off leash and run around some.

This KOA was comprised mostly of large RV/camper spaces with water, electricity, and cable tv hookups. There were also a number of smaller cabins then what we stayed in, but surprisingly there were only 4 official tent camping sites. Friday and Saturday all 4 were occupied; Friday night the campground as completely full. Saturday night there were some open spaces and some tent campers must have been looking for a place to stay as they allowed them to set up tents in the grassy portions of the RV spots. So if you are looking to tent camp at the Grand Junction KOA, I recommend making a reservation early!

Here is a quick little video tour of the deluxe cabin that we stayed in.

Interested in the Grand Junction KOA? You can check them out here: http://koa.com/campgrounds/grand-junction/

If you have a Good Sam membership or KOA membership, you can save a few extra bucks off of the reservation. They also accept AAA memberships for a discount which we used without showing any proof…we offered though!

As a general disclaimer or note, we were not compensated for this review of the KOA or provided with any benefits free of charge. We spent our own money to stay here and the opinions expressed are mine.

One of the (many) ways I am building my business, and have been for a number of years now, is by being a vendor at festivals and events. While the majority of my business is online through our e-commerce store and eBay/Amazon, getting out and vending at events really lets me reach customers that would have not found my business otherwise. Besides the jump in sales it creates, there are opportunities to create long term customers, help a potential customer make an informed decision, and advertise my business.

So, in my Essential Equipment for Festival Vendors series, the next topic I wanted to discuss are Booth Basics. When you sign up as a vendor for an event, you are most likely just going to get the space and when you show up, you are expected to have with you anything and everything that you need and nothing will be provided. Sometimes event management companies will also rent out canopies, chairs, etc or provide you a rental company you can go through. But if you are going to be serious about this business and continue to be vender at events, it is best to have your own supplies. Here are what I recommend:

A Quality Tent or Canopy

Most outdoor events are going to sell vending spaces in 10 ft x 10 ft areas, so you should get a canopy or tent that is 10×10. This lets you fit right in your assigned space and also maximize the amount of room you are paying for. You don’t want to have an 8×8 canopy and not be able to utilize all the space because your walls and the canopy structure cut off your area. Maximizing the full 100 sqft that you can also makes your booth space feel much bigger, especially if you are utilizing tables for your displays and merchandise.

Over the years, I’ve tried a number of different brands and types of canopies, but all are the “quick setup” type that come in a large roller bag with a metal frame and you pull it apart to expand the frame and then push up the legs to create the height. Currently, I’ve been using an E-Z Up tent that I bought at Sam’s Club, but you can find them other places too including online, sometimes for a good price. I’ve used the Ozark Trails brand from Wal-Mart and Quest brand from Dicks Sporting Goods. When buying a canopy, there are 2 things to consider: 1) Buy one with straight legs. If you guy a slanted legged canopy, then the legs will extend past your assigned 10×10 space which can be a pain when you are bunched in next to other vendors, and 2) Buy a canopy with a dome/pointed top, not something with a fairly flat roof. This will help with ventilation, provide extra vertical space for displays, and also help cut through the wind in case of high gusts.

The ‘cheaper’ canopies from Wal-Mart and other stores are good if you just want to try out vending or need a canopy for the beach, but once a few high wind gusts roll through it will quickly collapse your canopy. So it is worth the investment to purchase a heavier & higher quality canopy.

Folding Tables

The easiest way to display your merchandise is to lay it out on a table and if you are selling something like jewelry or small goods, tables can be great. In a 10×10 you can easily fit a few tables to show your goods. Because of the amount of camping & outdoor gear that I take to events, I only use 1 or 2 tables in my booth, but then use a lot of grid wall displays to take advantage of all 7-8 feet of vertical space in my booth. Plus using something like grid wall frees up space in my booth and allows more people to browse rather than being crowded around tables. If you are going to use tables, I definitely suggest folding tables vs non-folding tables. Depending on the size vehicle you have, the folding tables take up less room and can be had for around $40 at Walmart and they are pretty good quality. A 6 foot folding table is much easier to handle then an 8 foot non-folding table.  I’ll get more into the grid wall that I use in another post in more detail.

Chairs

You will have some down time at your event and probably just get tired from being on your feet all day to it is a good idea to bring a chair or two depending on how many people are coming with you. Many people bring the folding banquet type of chairs which are fine but I prefer the ‘camping’ style of folding chairs that fold up small into a bag. They are much more comfortable than a banquet folding chair, coming in various sizes/colors and include cup holders! I mean, come on, you’ve got to have a place for that ice cold beer you’re enjoying while being outside all day and making money!

Stay tuned for future posts on my festival/event essential equipment for vendors. More great stuff to come!

While the majority of my business is online through our e-commerce store and eBay/Amazon, getting out and vending at events really lets me reach customers that would have not found my business otherwise.

Besides the jump in sales it creates, there are opportunities to create long term customers, help a potential customer make an informed decision, and advertise my business.

In this series of posts, I am going to share a number of things and “equipment” that I find essential to be able to run my mobile store at events.

So if you are interested in learning about being a vendor at an event, festival, arts and craft fair, or other type of market, keep an eye out on this series for lots of great information and suggestions.

• Booth Basics (Tent, Table, Chairs, oh my!)
• Collecting Payments on the Go
• Merchandise Displays
• Signage

Starbucks Coffee mugs have always been a collectors item, even the generic ones, since the brand has such a cult following. However, they have also released a number of Collector Series mugs that feature different cities. Some of these can bring big money for rarer mugs like International cities going for upwards of $200, yet many common ones will consistently sell for $35+. The best part is that these can usually be found for so cheap!

This was the first Collector Series mug I had come across, and not surprisingly it featured Denver. I popped into a Salvation Army in Boulder to take a quick look around and this mug was sitting on the shelf. It was dated 2009 on the bottom.

The best part was the price! A wildly expensive $0.39…yes, 39 cents. So with sales tax I spent 42 cents on the mug!

After searching the completed and sold listings on eBay for the same mug, I decided to shoot a little high of a price at $44.99 and see what happened. Since I barely had anything invested in it, I didnt mind if it sat for a while. After 2 weeks, I lowed it down to $39.99 with still no action but a few watchers. On the 4th week that I had it listed, I got an offer for $34.99 and accepted it.

Shipping cost me about $5 bucks and not surprisingly, stayed local and was only shipped to someone in Denver.

Here’s how the profit works out:

Not too bad for an investment of less than a dollar!