Good sales, Steve. The car models sure bring back memories for me of building those as a youngster. Thanks also for showing us your piles of stuff to list – makes me feel better about mine.
More sales from earlier this summer. I’ll spare you the militaria this week:
This Mickey Mouse glass stopper was $1 at an indy thrift. I initially thought it was for wine bottles but the stopper part was too wide. There were a number of these stoppers for sale on eBay but no decanters that it would have come with. Something about it fooled my iPhone camera. I never could get a decent in-focus picture of it. It took a while to sell for $24 plus shipping. https://imgur.com/gYX3aZL
This Swatch watch was out of the family donation box. My son wore it daily in middle school for a while so it was pretty beat up though it kept good time. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in it given the condition but I thought I’d give it a try. It sold for $24 plus shipping. https://i.imgur.com/vSByiUv.jpg?2
This Yamaha keyboard sustain pedal was $1 at a yard sale. I was disappointed to learn there are many for sale and for not very much. I tried testing it with an amplifier but without a keyboard I couldn’t determine whether it worked or not. It was in perfect condition so I took a chance and sold it as untested but 100% guaranteed and at a price a little under market. If it turned out bad, I would just refund and let the buyer keep it, only losing the $1 I had in it and the $3 or so for first class postage one way. It sold for $15 free ship and never heard a peep. https://imgur.com/JqGFNPI
This 14K gold 1950’s F-86 Sabre Jet tie bar was part of a large lot of items all purportedly belonging to a prominent author who also had an interesting military career. I acquired the lot from a flea market dealer and although many items were definitely the author’s, this was among a number of random military-related pieces in the lot that I’m sure were just thrown in by the dealer to sweeten the pot because they had no connection to the author’s career. I don’t think the dealer realized the bar was gold, and I certainly did not until I pulled it out to list and was pleasantly surprised. I determined it’s primarily value was the gold content and gold jewelry is a hot category so I put it at auction, starting it at where I would have priced it as BIN. It sold for $218.10 plus shipping with three bids. https://imgur.com/7bIWUdd
This biology textbook was my son’s last year. He never touched it. The school makes you buy the book but everything they do is online. Textbooks can be great sellers but obviously condition and year are important determiners of value. Many are stupid expensive new. This one was a 2019 edition though it came out in 2018. It sold for $100, with free ship to be competitive. https://imgur.com/31Dtv1T
This hand-crafted leather wallet was out of a family estate, probably a gift to grandpa. It took a while to sell for $25 plus shipping. It was used, but in very good condition. I definitely do better with distressed leather. https://imgur.com/muz7aJx
Nice video! I was encouraged by the footage showing your shop and overflow – because this is my constant plight! Since retiring I have not ramped up my listing frequency which has come as a huge surprise to me. I thought I would really hunker down and be on the fast track to my eBay millions. LOL. Turns out I don’t like working at it that hard. Also turns out that the level I do work at it pays the bills and that’s good enough for me! But my overflow situation reached critical mass when I had to take on ANOTHER 10X15 storage unit to the tune of $159 a month. I am now close to $400 a month in storage costs and this bugs the hell out of me. So I decided to stop sourcing until I cleared the new 10X15 unit. This has proved harder that I thought. I lasted approx 6 weeks, then dipped my toe back in (via an estate sale) and of course that was the end of my “sobriety”. The first thing I sourced and listed sold in less than 5 mins (a Phil-Mar ceramic gazelle planter) which absolutely fueled the beast. So best of luck with the 1 month suspension of shopping privileges – I hope you are made of stronger stuff than me! I wonder if there’s a 12-step program for folks like us? Scavengers Anonymous! Love the videos, as always.
Caren – eBay store: thespeckledgoatllc
My most favorite sale ever (but not highest $$) was this gorgeous ceiling light fixture. Cast iron painted gold. I first noticed it b/c of the mid-century starburst design, but the curlicues in the middle made it look much older to me, and sure enough, there was a patent date of 1912 on it. Purchased for $8, sold for $225 in 1 month.
Found this New With Tags vintage BROWN ski pants at a rummage sale for a dollar or two. Wasn’t sure how well brown would sell these days for ski people, but they sold in just 1 month for $50. Success!
This other piece of vintage ski gear took much longer to sell. I purchased this Lahco jacket for $5 a couple of years ago, back when I still thought I could make big bucks from any vintage clothing that looked cool and was rare, so I had it priced very high for a long time. Finally sold for $36 after 18 months.
Nice sales Steve, thanks for posting so regularly.
I have been trying to find means to make more money on sales with less time invested. This concho belt is an example of an experiment. https://www.ebay.com/itm/193078172318 I purchased this with a silver pin and a pair of earrings for $100 at an estate sale. After reviewing the available concho belts and the past solds on both eBay and Worthpoint, I decided to price this one at the usual selling point of around $200 instead of the stretch prices people seek ($400 to $1000). To my astonishment, the belt sold overnight at $195.
At a garage sale, the seller asked me what I was interested in. I was looking at her board games at that moment, so I said that I was interested in vintage games and toys – from the 1970s or earlier. She said “I have a box of stuff, but I wouldn’t part with it for less than $30.” Five minutes later she pulls out a box that had thirty 1920s to 1950s dexterity games, 20 of which were in mint condition. This one sold overnight for $38.50 https://www.ebay.com/itm/193074457079 From now on, I am ALWAYS going to have a short list of stuff I am interested in at garage sales.
I put all my shoes and boots on sale – trying to get out of the business (bulky, difficult to ship and etc.) I accepted a best offer of $40 on these near new tactical boots after reviewing solds and realizing that they are not selling for as much as when I listed them in the past. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192723904606
I broke up a new in the box Sirius docking station that I paid $40 for and later realized I would not make much on resell. I have been selling parts. This is the remote control that I sold last week for $14.50. https://www.ebay.com/itm/193058667794 Along with another set of parts (modules for docking specific radios), I have broken even on the purchase and still have three more parts to sell.
That is most of what is interesting in my store. On vacay next two weeks – going to Beijing to scavenge and sight see, (mostly sight see).
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