What Sells On eBay: Poker chips, Stuffed cat, Epiphone guitar, Boombox, 8-Track

Here I am trying not to be the first person to post, but I guess there is no way out.

Steve – I’m glad you were clarified which kitty was sold 😊. Did that actually happen coincidentally?

My biggest sale last week was a collection of 9 vintage airline playing cards, new and sealed. These were free to me from one of my parents’ downsizing friends. Many of these airlines are no longer in business. Sold for $55 to someone in the UK though the GSP.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183901434617

Someone asked on the forum about selling a Maxwell House mug recently, and I mentioned that I had a set listed. If I was superstitious, I would connect it with the sale about a week or so later. Or, maybe forum readers clicked on the link giving it a boost in activity? I paid less than $1 in an online auction, and the set of 6 sold for $29.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183698946174

A seller contacted me last week who was just very nice and wanted multiple items from my store. I guess I can be sweet-talked because I ended up giving her some good deals. It helped that she wanted some items that hadn’t had much action or I didn’t pay anything for. I would say that the most interesting item was this carved duck that I sold to her for $14. I had paid about $4 for it, but had been sitting in inventory for over a year.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183722978435

But, the best deal I gave her was these two t-shirts for $7 each. These were free to me from the same guy as the playing cards mentioned above:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183947621771
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183947626493

• This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Sharyn.

Great sales, Steve and Sharyn! Steve, I wanted to mention last week that I had to laugh when you said you had listened to all seven of those Billy Joel 8-track tapes. I did not hear even a hint of chagrin in your voice but I don’t think I could have listened to them at all. As a musician I can appreciate his talent but I got really sick of hearing him so much on the radio in the 70’s and ‘80’s. I haven’t gotten over that.

Sharyn, that crazy guy that gave me boxes of stuff at the flea market for free threw in several sets of vintage playing cards, including a braille set that sold quickly for $10. But the reason I mention it was the discovery during my research of the different decks that selling individual playing cards is apparently a thing. It appears they are all very low dollar though so I think I’ll stick to selling the whole decks. Those are some cool decks you sold. It was the end of an era when Pan Am and Eastern went under.

Some recent sales:
I received this WWII British Army gas mask bag at a promotional showing of They Shall Not Grow Old, the recent documentary by Peter Jackson. He used CGI to enhance and smooth original WWI film and photos and colorized to make it all look like snippets of modern film. It was an amazing accomplishment and a very well-made film, though for me the effect was a bit cartoonish. The bag sold for $20 plus shipping. The item is from WWII, not WWI, but this year there will be some increased interest in WWII due to 2020 being the 75th anniversary of the end of that war.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273863636903
There are always many ‘90’s-vintage US Army woodland and desert camouflage uniforms up for sale cheap but I find I can charge a bit of a premium for pieces in good shape; starched and ironed and listed in men’s clothing rather than as military surplus, with measurements and decent photos and description. Recently a pair of desert pants went for $32 free shipping (padded flat rate priority) and a pair of woodland pants went for $28 plus shipping. These were free to me – well, maybe not free but I didn’t pay money for them.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273938377820
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274065005052
I got this large Mexican handwoven hammock in El Salvador in the ‘80s. It sold for $45 plus shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274198089007
I sold these 2016 Air Jordan sneakers on consignment for my son’s friend for $122 free ship. I think I’ve mentioned before that my son and his friends used to spend too much time watching Youtube videos of hip hop fashion resellers. The friend lost interest when he learned that there’s actually work involved in selling things online and has had this pair for a while. I did recently see that supposedly the used sneaker market is showing no signs of abating.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274198459581
Did you know we have a US Navy base in Poland and it’s not even on the water? I didn’t, until I listed this. This consigned challenge coin for the recently established US Naval Support Facility Redzikowo sold for $42 on a best offer plus shipping, going back to Poland.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274196364099
This US Air Force Senior Pilot Qualification badge is undated but was made by a contractor active only in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, making it from the Vietnam Era. It sold to France for $25 plus (direct) shipping and was part of a lot purchase that came to about $1.30 an item.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/153751056182