What Sells On eBay: Sonneman Saturn lamp, Vintage Hammer, Lineman safety belt

Some of my best sales from 2019. Shipping not included.

A big thank you to Sharyn (at least I think it was Sharyn) for alerting me to the popularity of the Dansk Ivy china pattern. I purchased 6 dinner plates for about $6.50. Sold a lot of 2 for $50 (took 6 months) and a lot of 4 for $110 (took 10 months). I’m still confused as to why some of them had a Limoges marking in addition to Dansk.

https://imgur.com/a/vDT3AFn

I love buying bennington pottery items when I can find them. Paid $1 for this sugar and it sold in 2 weeks for $40. Not all of their items sell this well, but they always sell.

https://imgur.com/a/xp759LP

Weird long bill hat by J Peterman. Purchased for $3 at Goodwill, sold in less than 2 months for $50.

https://imgur.com/a/oHccpiK

As the clothing reseller youtubers say, I purchased this Penny Lane style coat b/c of style only – the brand Giacca is nothing special. $3 at an independent thrift. Sold for $62 in a few weeks.

https://imgur.com/a/tzZuyD7

The salvation army I go to switched their pricing policy around about a year ago and went back to low prices. So even though things move pretty quickly and the store is now much emptier (in terms of merchandise), I can find some good picks from time to time, like this Kuhl jacket for $7, which sold in 2 weeks for $70.

https://imgur.com/a/fl7vt3X

Sonia – Yes, I was the Dansk ivy seller. My mom lives in an active adult community, and, when one of her neighbors needed to move into a nursing home, his son left a partial set on the curb. I have five listings left.

I went to an auction in the first week of this month and bought a bunch of vintage tube AM radios. I listed them through the following week, and three of them sold last week. I paid $11.50 for six of them.

A GE radio, untested because the cord was brittle and falling apart, for $28.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184173242048

A nonworking Sentinel (never heard of the brand) for $32. I had removed all my tube radios from GSP because of hazardous materials restrictions in some countries, but a guy from Mexico wanted to buy it. However, even when I put it back into GSP, he couldn’t buy. eBay gave him the name of a forwarding service.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184173258392

And a Sears Silvertone radio, untested because its cord had been cut off, for $22.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184173274335

From a previous radio purchase, I sold a nonworking Zenith Trans Oceanic 3000-1 for $44. I’m thinking of buying an adapter to see if any of my other remaining radios actually work even if it doesn’t work with batteries.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184173627271

From my non-electric departments, I sold a few things I thought were so cool that I put them up really high, but didn’t sell until I grossly reduced them. I bought both at least two years ago. The first is this Pik Nik peanut butter container that sold on offer for $15. I paid less than $1.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183985268505

And then there is this 1959 package of garbage bags UNOPENED that sold only for $13.50 on sale. I think I ponied up $5 for it, but I was a new-ish seller then. I’d still buy them now, but for much less. I just think it is cool that someone bought it new, and it sat in their kitchen for 70 years.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184022584347

I should also throw in this set of 8 fruit spoons from the First Love pattern for $32. My mom purchased the set for me at a flea market in Florida. Funny, she is mentioned twice this week. I’m sure I get my sense of a good buy from her.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184128459299

Great sale on that turntable, Steven! That was super convenient to have all of the original packing components. I had a really good week last week. Here are some highlights…

I bought this WW2 helmet liner from an online auction for a dollar. It was included with a pole lamp that I was really looking to buy. I didn’t think much of it until I went to list it and did some research. Prices for these things are all over the map. When that happens and I don’t have a lot of knowledge about something, I usually set it up for auction. I started it out at $75 and it sold for $160. Way better than I expected!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303479689614

I bought a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner at a yard sale for only $15 because the lady couldn’t remember if it worked or not. It didn’t to no surprise, but I knew I could sell the parts. And they’ve been steadily selling. This top face cover part sold for $20. So far I’ve sold almost $100 in parts and I’ve got a lot more to go.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303476344272

Here was an unfortunate learning experience of why I should listen to my gut instead of big sold numbers. This Hudson Bay blanket was up for auction. I knew about HB, but I wanted to quickly check some comps before they started. Past solds were showing $400+ on these things. So I bid it up to $225 and won. Later I found out that sold prices greatly depend on the number of “fingers” these blankets have. Mine was of the lower end variety in terms of worth. I did manage to sell it for $210 after a long time. Lesson learned, don’t bet big if you don’t have enough knowledge.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303050966516

In contrast to the blanket, here’s my big winner of the week. I acquired this nice framed 1920s chocolate advertising print at an auction for $100. I trusted my gut with this one and it paid off! It sold a few days after listing it for $500!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303493200788

Here’s a quick BOLO for everyone. I run across these McMaster-Carr catalogs every now and then. They’re about 3 inches thick with tissue thin pages full of illustrations and information. They push out a new one every year, but people are after the old ones. This particular catalog dated 1994 and earned me $43. I’ve previously sold one from 1962 for $100. They’re easy money if you get them cheap enough.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303302880407

This past week, I sold some bread and butter items that I have mentioned here before – wooden trains, enamel pins, melanzana hoodie, 1940s photo negatives and some books.

My top sale last week was this lens that came off of an old 35mm film camera that I bought in a lot. The camera was not valuable and so it languished in my pile of unlisted items for a few months. When I finally got to examineing it, I realized the lens was much more valuable than the camera. https://www.ebay.com/itm/193033980817

Best to all.