Trash to Cash. A podcast about making a living on eBay.
What Sells On eBay: Grumbacher Paint Set, Vintage Panasonic Tape Player, Neon Hunting Vest
You might think that box of old oil paints looks like trash, but people love them. Some just want to display it as decor, some will use the paint (oil paint can last a long time), so keep an eye out!
David Hall here,
Love the new site Ryanne and Jay! Looks great.
My wife and I have had good luck with used art supplies. We both studied art and have a lot of old brushes and oil paints. They always sell. We recently sold some nice metallic watercolor pigments for a great price (> $50 for a set of 5 colors). I rhink ww paid a couple dollars for them. We always grab that kinda thing at the “junk store.”
• Total Items in Store: 733
• Items Sold: 12
• International 1 GSP Saudi Arabia
• Total Sales $595
• Highest Price $130 vintage Panasonic cassette radio
• Average Price Sold: $50
• Returns: 0
• Cost of Items Sold: $17
• Cost of items purchased this week $500
I had an idea to ferret out some stereo equipment I know is hiding in people’s closets and basements.
I created a CL ad using pictures of audio gear I have or have sold recently, I wrote what brands I was looking for. Now I knew I would get replies from those guys who always have stuff up on CL with eBay prices and I did indeed receive many of those but my thought was that after a week I would renew the ad and those people would recognize it and not bother me, and so my hope would be the people that have stuff but aren’t familiar or comfortable with selling online might be perusing CL to get an idea of pricing would see my ad and contact me.
Sure enough I received a text from someone with a dream system, Marantz pre and power amps, Pioneer speakers, Sansui Turntable and Akai reel to reel, $400!
Well I was highly suspicious as each one of these pieces sells for over $400, but after some pointed questions and apprehension on their part I was sent the address that was in a tony neighborhood and when I arrived he had it set up on the basement floor and I could hardly believe my eyes, gorgeous shape and all working. He also included a stack of 10.5″ Maxell reel tapes, some unopened and a couple extra carts for the TT, those extras are worth $1000 or more alone.
Now spending $400 when eBay has slowed to a crawl for me is tough but ye must have faith, and I’m still getting replies to my CL ad that look promising.
Steve – I have this exact same Panasonic radio/cassette. It’s in real bad shape now but what a blast from the past when I saw it in the video. The radio still works on mine, the cassette door has been broken off for a long time, and it’s covered with speckles of paint and drywall dust but the dang thing still works.
I wasn’t around last last week. I had bad chest infection that progressed to walking pneumonia. I’m feeling a bit better. I was away for a week and now everything all new and shiny. Looks great!
Here’s my what’s sold video covering the last week plus some:
Sheldon, I hope that you are feeling closer to 100% right now. I’m looking forward to your packing video.
eBay seems to have specific rules about selling Native American items. They ask for tribe and other particulars. What did you do with the Navajo rug when you weren’t sure? I have two items up for sale that may or may not be Native American, but I suspect that they probably are. I didn’t list them as such since I didn’t have the story behind them, and I couldn’t find much in my online research.:
Art Supplies do sell when. Good brands that is. We sold a set of Grumbacher soft pastels for $125 about 6 months ago. Left over from my art school days also. Never used pastels that much, just acrylic paint. But also still have some technical ink pens, pencils and charcoal items to be listed. Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
I have a pile of unresearched art supplies, mainly oils and acrylics. A lot of stuff from the 60’s at the moment. I always pick them up, but they take so much time to research and price, they sit there for a long time. Anyone have any tips on good brands or sites that detail what’s desirable? I imagine old colors they don’t make anymore are pretty popular.
Last sale I had was on cl. Some big, mostly unused, tubes of acrylic and a bunch of small ones for $70. It took months. It was kind of funny. Turned out to be a crafty (in every sense of the word) little old lady. She tried to low-ball me, then she tired to get me to drive to meet her across town. I declined, and then she declined. The next day her daughter called, met me where I wanted, and paid full price.
Agree that your fur babies need their own channel… just a loop of them frolicking around the park!
Some of my sales over the past week:
1970s Coppercraft Guild Copper & Leather ice bucket: http://www.ebay.com/itm/191499617542
I’ve had this for a bit, probably over a year. Very sharp looking, quickly sold the matching mugs. I’ve had it on & off sale a few times, finally sold in my clearance section for $27. Probably paid less that $5.
Vintage Notre Dame porcelain desk cup/mug: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201676496095
I’ve mentioned before that I always pick up these souvenir/display mugs & steins of colleges – usually for $3 or less. This one was easy to reasearch because it had the stamp & maker still on the bottom. Definitely vintage since made in the USA, newer ones in bookstores are usually Japan. The buyer made several low ball offer and I countered, all the way down to $25 – they declined and then immediately paid full price $35… whatever!
1975 Visconti Sforza Tarocchi Card Deck http://www.ebay.com/itm/192005636881
I never thought anything about tarot cards until a few people mentioned they can go for big bucks here on the blog. Ended up seeing a box lot of tarot cards & books about tarot cards. Paid up at $80 for the box, but this deck alone sold for $85 best offer and I still have others listed. I’m now fully in the tarot card business.
c1910 Wooden Humidor http://www.ebay.com/itm/191889411257
Hoarder dig sale find for a couple bucks. Looked interesting closed with nicely stained wood and then I noticed it was a humidor when I opened it. Humidors today aren’t lined in tin, but it was a popular lining to seal in humidity around the turn of the century before glass became more popular. Bottom of the box is written “”WJ Finn 1910 Brooklyn” & “NJ Ready 1920 Brooklyn” to help date it. Had it up for $75 and took an offer of $50 when the buyer said he was going to restore it and use it.
Sweden Sporrong Enamel Kronor Brooch http://www.ebay.com/itm/201272153417
Found this in a big box of costume jewelry. It looked ornate and I recognized the three crown symbol of Sweden from their hockey jerseys. Sure enough, did a little research and found the maker & that it was 24k gold over brass. Paid $1, sold for $35 best offer after it sat for a while.
Thanks, Jay! I live for history in general and love learning where things come form and why they exist if they’re weird. I like to sell the story and hopefully with the story can sell for a bit of a premium.
Living in the NYC burbs, there’s so much around in such a nearby area – rich areas, poor areas, old money, new money – that it makes it easy to find a varied range of stuff.
Me sharing with y’all is the least I can do to pay you guys back for the knowledge you’ve shared. I’ve never be in this place within the sharing of knowledge from you & the community.
Brian, I am down with the tarot card thing. I now ask for them at almost every garage sale like a weirdo. One time they said yes, unfortunately those weren’t worth anything, lol. Here’s a tip, even though they aren’t technically tarot, Sylvia Browne put out a set of cards that I sold for $35. I think they are kind of hard to find.
I didn’t sell anything of particular interest this week (mostly RA bread and butter) but I wanted to post and say I love the links!! And Sheldon, I hope you are feeling better. Thanks.
J&R< I don’t know why I am receiving all comments in my inbox. I don’t think I signed up for them and they are filling up my inbox. When I went to unsubscribe from them it says I do not have a subscription. I just want to continue getting the podcasts whenthey come out, but not every comment. How donInfix this? Linda
Under the box where you type your replies, there is a check box “Notify me of follow-up replies via email”. Uncheck that box & submit and it will stop.
Brian, I can’t figure out how to reply right under your kind answer. I only posted one other comment and I can’t find that one. Maybe it will stop as that particular thread dies down. Thank you.
To reply under a comment, look at the top right of the comment box next to the hashtag-ed number. Click reply and your response will go underneath the previous. Also, not 100% sure on this, but I believe once you uncheck the box replies box, it applies to all replies not just one. 🙂
Cool on the barkcloth … I’d completely forgotten what that was called. My mom (born and raised in Hawaii) made tons of things around the house with that stuff! Looks like it sells for a good price.
Love your naming of the “Magic Mushrooms” crewel …
My October sales vid.
Did ok, hopefully November is even better. I think what helped is that I came across a really nice haul one Saturday that made me some money on the Goosebumps Door Knocker and Metallica tape. The Tool hoodie helped a lot too! If only I could always have stuff on hand that sells really fast. I’ve mostly been selling old stock and bread and butter items. I’m constantly on the watch for better selling items out there though! I’ve learned so much in the last year and I’m non stop watching What Sells vids.
Sorry my reply wasn’t clear. I meant Ryanne: I don’t see the avatars on my phone. And to Cindy (and others): J&R are working on improving the mobile display.
Found a gallon sized bag at goodwill for $4 sitting on a random rack. The bag had two of these in it!! Plus a few other accessories that went to them – total list price for all items was $600. Finds like this is what keeps me coming back for more.
Another off-hand goodwill find. The color scheme caught my eye, and I just got happier and happier the more research I did to drill down all my keywords. “Settled” for a $135 offer.
Here is an example of being willing to spend more sometimes. I had to pay $15 at goodwill, but I knew I’d do well. Accepted a $51 offer within 3 hours of listing.
Hey everybody! First a huge THANK YOU to Jay and Ryanne for doing all of this for us. If you ever need a kidney…ok, I will hit up the tip jar later and I hope others do too.
Managed steady sales and Christmas themed items are moving faster as well with some boxed Christmas themed flatware I scrounged from a curbside for $60.00.
I always feel a bit um, undignified scrounging freebies, but there were bags of vintage stuff from the 70s thru 90s put on the curb by folks hired by a bank to clean out a foreclosed house that had been abandoned for several months. I saw it driving back from a coffee run, stopped and got the low down from the cleaners. So far that haul of freebies has made roughly $200 from two concert t shirts, fishing items and the flatware. I might do a haul video, but only because the vintage clothing is really fantastic.
Anyway, I just did this video and it includes my Amazon selling. I don’t generally talk Amazon, but I thought it might be useful to talk about how I pick and flip books.
Good job on the new site! Love the clickable links. Is there any way to reply or ask a question to one post, so it’s more inline rather than just at the end?
No sales in going on day 6. With 895 items listed in my store. Eek.
I also bought a ton of the Kenzo x H&M stuff but I could tell this collection wasn’t going to be very popular after the dismal line I encountered at 6am at the mall. Blah.
I did read that lines were long in London so maybe British buyers want my stuff? Disappointing to say the least.
Checking in. I also had a bread and butter week but thankful for any sales:) Getting use to the new format, but liking it so far.
Thanks again for all your hard work J and R, and to Steve for always sharing his what sold video. Love the clickable links too!
My death piles are growing…I seriously need to buckle down the next two weeks!
Enjoyed your video. I grew up with the double-version of the lights you sold hanging on the wall behind the full-size bed I shared with my sister. Have fond memories as a small child of being read to under that light. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
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