What Sells On eBay: Wall sconces, Car parts, Oster egg cooker, models, Percolator, Freezer defroster

While sales are picking up a bit, I’m still selling low value items. I’m also running a 25% off sale to get things moving. Here’s a few interesting things:

Someone gave me a printer, but the ink was all dried up. So, I bought inexpensive after-market ink refills, but the printer did not work. So, I listed just the paper feeder. Unless I know a printer works, I think that is what I’ll do from now on. Printers have parts (like the header) that wear out in just a few years, and I don’t think they’re worth the effort or cost to test. Anyway, the feeder sold for $25.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183285463753

I bought several boys suit jackets at a rummage sale a few weeks ago. These sell as fast as the kids grow, which is pretty speedily. This one actually cost $3 (it was from before the $5 bag day), and it sold for $18.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183397226082

In the past few weeks, I’ve shown some Red Cross uniforms and a book that I sold from one auction lot. In that lot, I also bought four Goucher College yearbooks from the late 20s to early 30’s. Goucher college is in MD and was an all-girls school at the time. This one was the 1931 book plus a few extras. The buyer wrote me a note saying that she was able to find pictures of her grandmother, and it was going to be a surprise gift for her father! What a neat story! Paid about $1, sold on sale for $24.71.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183334373124

Here is one of the lowest priced items I’ve ever sold. An old black and white photo of a black woman with her two children. While packing it up, I noticed that the address was for a residential development in Miami. My mom happened to be visiting, and she suggested that maybe it would be used in a model, and the photo might fit in with their clientele. Interesting. And my mom is pretty sharp! Bought for less than 50 cents, sold for a whopping $3 on sale (plus shipping).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182908357400

Here’s my sales for all of August: https://youtu.be/XDFh-oLlaS8

I had a fairly nice week of sales last week. Things are starting to pick up again for me. Here are some highlights…

I’ve learned to never pass up old things that are still new in box, no matter how mundane they may seem. So when I acquired this brand new set of four plastic Thermo-Serv coffee mugs in a box lot, I knew I had a winner. Unfortunately, I paid quite a lot for them (box lot was $27.50 / 2 sellable items at $13.75 each). But I listed them for somewhat high and they sold for full price of $45.
Thermo-Serv Plastic Nautical Mugs

I’ve learned that completed cross stitches can be gold if you get them for cheap enough. Luckily, I bought a whole box of them for $3 at an estate sale. The lady would complete them and then just put them back away in the bag along with the pattern sheet and all the other original extras. So it was really easy to give details such as design number and brand. This Halloween themed black cat cross stitch sold for $25. I have others listed for more, but this one was a very simple design that didn’t have a lot of time put into it. More elaborate ones can go for double or triple that.
Completed Cross Stitch

Here’s my big sale of the week. I bought this speaker mounting kit at a thrift shop for $3. Still sealed in the box, I had no idea what it looked like. But I did the research and found that it was made for an expensive brand (Electro-Voice) of discontinued speakers. They took a while to sell as expected, but I got full price for it – $160.
Speaker Mounting Hardware

Here’s a good example showing that you never know what might sell. There’s always a buyer for everything. This vintage Autocar VIN plate must have come from a winch truck. I got it out of a box lot of old garage tins and cans that I paid $17.50 for (each sellable item came to $1.03). Admittedly, it took longer than I thought to sell, but I finally got full price of $25 for it.
Autocar VIN Plate

Here’s a fun little sale. I got this book from the Goodwill bins, so it couldn’t have been more than a dollar. It’s a VERY dated book about the dangers of Marijuana. It was an entertaining read for sure, but I decided to pass it on for $15. Hopefully the buyer will get a kick out of it.
1970s Dangers of Marijuana Book

Only sold 13 items last week, and here are the highlights:

I nabbed this nice vintage Pendleton Yakima wool blanket at a thrift store for $8; it sold within a week for $170: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Pendleton-Gray-Brown-Wool-Camp-Blanket-Yakima-3-Stripe-Red-Green-64×80/323406125392

I picked up 2 of these boxes of sealed TDK tapes at a junky estate sale for $2 apiece. The first box was complete with 10 tapes and sold within a week; this one of 9 tapes took several months longer, and just sold for $90: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Box-of-9-NOS-New-Sealed-TDK-SA-C90-Cassette-Tapes-Japan/323142228066

In my ongoing commission sales for a friend who in the last few months had his second child and is now moving across the country, I’ve chosen not to share most of his What Solds, as they’re not often the kinds of things you stumble across/get for cheap while scavenging – though are very worth my time as a valet seller (and we’re using eBay’s pay % scale for earnings): US knives, high end watches, high end sound equipment, climbing ropes, some outdoorsy stuffs, and now a bunch of motorcycle gear. This past week I sold his Mountainsmith hiking lumbar pack with backpack shoulder strap conversion. Got a lot of watchers, and one guy who wrote and expressed interest in buying it as a back up as he liked his current one so much. So, BOLO for what it’s worth: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MountainSmith-Lumbar-Waist-Pack-Shoulder-Strap-Convertible-Backpack-Strapettes/323357406584

My mom attends a weekly auction. When she sees things she thinks I’ll like, she’ll text with a photo. She picked up this small Griswold skillet for $3. Took a few months, but sold for $70: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Vintage-Griswold-No-3-709-Small-Cast-Iron-Skillet-LBL-EPU-6-5-Pour-Spout/323296997687

Finally, I’m still clearing out odds and ends of my own belongings. I chose to go ahead and list some of the vintage kitchen towels I’ve had for years, and found that this one is not only “signed” but collectible: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1950s-MCM-Tammis-Keefe-Linen-Tea-Towel-Cats-Kittens-15-x-27/323407485634

Here’s to our sales!