Not a big week for me, but I did have a few interesting sales:
In Sept 2016, I purchased a number of lots in an online auction. One was a large pile of office material. I organized by type and grouped them into listings. I haven’t had too much success with them, but here is a large lot of vintage graphing and engineering type paper. I paid a dollar or two and sold for best offer of $40. http://www.ebay.com/itm/182390070453
Auctions are really where I get value for my money, but sometimes I’ll check out a garage or estate sale to see if they missed something. The company running a moving sale undervalued this vintage Panasonic pencil sharpener. I bought it for $1, sold for $39.55. http://www.ebay.com/itm/182775091486
These vintage porcelain napkin rings were given to me by one of my parents’ friends. They are interesting because of their design and they have a slot in the top for holding a place card. I only had two, but they sold for $33. http://www.ebay.com/itm/182949421864
Another profitable week of sales last week. I’m really liking this $1K+ trend. Here we go…
I’m usually really good about inventorying my purchases right after I buy them. That way I always know where, when and for how much I bought them. But this was one of the few items I have that I have no idea where it came from. Oh well. I listed this NASA ISS Arm Patch for $30 and it sold within minutes. I feel like I underpriced it. There weren’t any others available or even sold recently. But I was still happy with the sale. NASA International Space Station Patch
On the What Sells videos, I’ve noticed vintage Coleman coolers can be a collectable item. So when I found this teal metal and plastic diamond pattern cooler for $10 at a thrift store, I knew I had to pick it up. I listed it for $150 and the lowball offers started rolling in. I almost accepted a few times, but since it was a fresh listing, I thought it’d be better to wait it out. I finally got a $120 best offer and I knew that was the right price. Of course I didn’t have a good size box to ship it in so I had to make my own. An hour of packing later, it was ready to ship! Vintage Coleman Cooler
In my experience, American flags are generally ignored at auctions and sales. But I will always grab them up for cheap. The larger ones can fetch a pretty good deal of money. They’re kind of a pain to photograph though, so I’ll wait until I accumulated several and do a “flag day.” I got lucky at an estate sale and scored a whole box full of flags for about $10. They were mostly 50-stars, a few 48-stars and one, very old 46-star. This 48-star flag was the first to sell. I took a best offer of $60 which was around the price range I was hoping for this particular size and material. Wool flags can go for a lot more. 48-Star American Flag
Here’s a lesson about how you should always at least consider selling a broken item before tossing it. This was my personal Nikon camera lens that got ruined in the flood. I don’t know what propelled me to hang on to it instead of throwing it on the trash pile, but I’m happy I did. I listed it with a completely honest description of the condition and it still sold within a week. I took $45 for it. Broken Camera Lens
Now for my big sale of the week. At an auction, I found a plastic tub full of these amateur scrapbooks. They looked they there were done by some kid. Mostly 1990s articles and pictures taken out of Sports Illustrated and the sports section of newspapers. But one album caught my immediate attention. It was full of stickers! And not just your everyday good job and gold star stickers. These were all vintage drag racing decals and stickers. All meticulously placed on the pages to avoid damage. I got the whole lot for $10. I decided to list them in lots of single, front and back pages since they were double-sided taped to them. Well after about a month with not a lot of interest, I received a message from someone saying they wanted to buy all of them for $200. I took a second to think about it and then told the guy absolutely! Created a custom listing and the guy paid for them right away! So while I could have made twice as much had I sold them individually for my asking price, I think I did the right thing by getting rid of them in one sale. Who knows how long it would have taken to sell individually? Racing Stickers!
There must be something about a clean white backdrop that dark haired cats are just drawn to. I see Midge is no different from my cat in that regard. I take a lot photographs on a white towel. That is until my long haired black and white cat finds out. She’s always gotta lie right in the center of it. I’ve even tried putting down decoy towels but she’s not fooled.
Thanks once again for sharing your sales, always some great stuff. Sorry to hear you have parted ways, but glad to hear you are still friends, and I hope you can arrange play time for all the doggies. So funny the dog walking past the cat over and over, I think you should teach the cat to hop on his back and take a ride.
Fleetguard Oil Filter…from boyfriend’s box of stuff he never will use, so go ahead and sell it …. cept he saw it and forgot and gave it to a friend: https://www.ebay.com/itm/112690880142
Now all the boxes with ebay stuff have a sign on them, attached with the eBay clown tape: “EBAY – DO NOT TOUCH … YES, THIS MEANS YOU!!!”
Steve – I love Midge’s little castle. Looks like it was made out of an old tv?
I haven’t posted for a while since I had a knee replacement in September (ouch!) and because sales have generally not been good for us. But here’s what sold recently:
And this pyrex lid was the oldest thing in our store and I was about to remove it. Paid 50 cents, sold for a whoppppping 4.50: https://www.ebay.com/itm/111789136062
In spite of these seemingly good profits when I look at what ebay and paypal take out and it’s a little depressing. Wah!
Pendleton Blanket – Paid $4 at a yard sale and it sold for $250 after turning down lots of offers. Glad I held out! https://www.ebay.com/itm/332207206607
Vintage Fireworks Box – I think this was $2-$3 at a thrift shop (and had several Shiny Brite ornaments inside) and sold for $43. I rarely do auctions but tried it on this since it seemed to be in demand. Probably could have done better fixed price, but I’m pretty happy with $43 for an empty box. https://www.ebay.com/itm/232614556516
Wow some cool items in here this week and some in amazing condition for the age. TFS everyone.
Ida – that Pacific Northwest Art Print Pendleton blanket is on my unicorn list. I’ll never find one so should probably pay up or ask Santa next year. Awesome garage sale find!
This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by ChristineR.
I love them too. I sold one pattern that I’ve been regretting ever since. I find Pendleton blankets once in a while (not too often), since it is sort of in my neck of the woods and since we are right near a reservation. Keep an eye on my store! 😉
I rarely see wool made items down here in south La., especially the Pendleton stuff. I did find a LL Bean vintage wool hat that I need to list really soon. When it snowed last month, many people here didn’t even have gloves on hand! They were putting socks on their kids hands, lol.
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