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Here is some cool stuff we sold this week. Enjoy!
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Trash to Cash. A podcast about making a living on eBay.
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Here is some cool stuff we sold this week. Enjoy!
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We’ve had a pickup in sales this week, which has been great. Getting some new people with interesting origin stories sharing on the blog comments as well. We enjoyed making and sharing the ‘what sold’ video, so we’ll post another one this week. Ryanne mentions doing research on one of the oldest and most collected items in the world- postage stamps. Check out the most valuable stamp in the world- The British Guiana 1c magenta. It recently sold for about $10 million. Wow! Hope I find one of those at a thrift store. Just kidding, that will never happen, there is only one in the world.
The Weekly Scavenger Numbers
Our Store Week Nov 9-15, 2014
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We decided to start a series of videos about what sold in our store this week rather than what we bought this week. That way we can show real prices that people paid for interesting and unique items on eBay. It’s kind of the opposite of a ‘haul video’. We picked out some of the cool things that sold and video-ed them before they got packed and shipped. We hope you enjoy it!
And here’s a video we made on how to pack a delicate lamp.
This will show you how we pack artwork framed with glass.
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In a world of high energy Pickers, Hustlers, and quick money Flippers, it’s nice to meet someone like Kate. She’s a mom of three who’s been a Scavenger for years. Her focus is on the items that people think are often literally garbage and finds the artistic and design value of them. She shares with us how she does deep research on these items. Then she’s able to list these items on eBay for high prices because she can identity it’s value to the collector or designer who seeks after these unique items.
Our conversation with Kate is so important for us because we also have been evolving into filling our store with more of these unique objects that bring high dollar sales. Because most people don’t have the knowledge of “weird” items, they are often cheap to buy. And because these items are unique, we often have very little competition online. This is how we hope to keep thriving in a world where everyone is fighting to lower their prices on the same exact toy on Amazon. And in this way, selling on eBay can become a treasure hunt, detective case, history lesson, art theory class at the same time.
Our conversation ended abruptly because her phone died, but she did want to share her process with you. She’ll also be glad to answer any questions you have in the comments.
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I have a few more stories and thoughts about the research process and the importance of research that we didn’t get to before my phone died – and I wanted to include some links as well.
Earlier this year I found a set of framed hand painted tiles at the dump, and personally I found them so unattractive that I almost left them behind. But at the last minute, I took them, because they were framed and signed and I figured I could look up the signature and return them to the dump the next day if nothing turned up. When I got them home and looked up the signature, which was J. Lord, I learned that people attribute these tiles to Jack Lord, of Hawaii-Five-O fame, and that they’re sought after by certain collectors. I ended up selling them for about $250. Personally, I don’t think they’re by Jack Lord at all, and that’s a piece I’d like to write up for my blog sometime soon.
A few months ago, I found a freezer-size Ziploc bag full of old buttons at a local thrift store for $5. I quickly realized that they were primarily Victorian, and could easily have flipped the whole bag for $125 in a day. Instead, I separated out all the buttons, and have started researching every one, or every type (many are matched sets.) I’ve been listing them slowly, as I research them. I have already made over $200 on the bag and I still have most of the collection in-hand. The other day I listed a button which had proved difficult to research. It’s going auction-style, so I’m hopeful. I started it at $45 and already have a bidder. It’s been so much fun, and somewhat profitable as well. There are button-collecting organizations with websites, and a vast number of books out there, too. Never forget about your local library’s inter-library loan service.
The research process really depends on the piece. For something like a signed or initialed vase, I might start just with eBay or Google searches, or Google image searches, or the like, trying various descriptive words to try and find something relevant. For something like a signed painting, I use findartinfo.com to help decipher the signature, and some of the other art/auction websites as well. Findartinfo includes pricing information in their free search, whereas other art/auction websites tend to share pictures but not prices. The sites can be cross-referenced with good results. Also, I believe the Rago Auctions website, as well as a few others, disclose their selling prices.
Using the “archive grid” website can let you know if any museum or university archive has a file relevant to your artist or piece. I also have a subscription to the New York Times, so sometimes look up things in their online archive, and highly recommend the site fultonhistory.com to anyone doing any research project about anything. It’s a really idiosyncratic website with a massive archive of scanned online newspapers, and the information you can find there is amazing. The advertisements and everything are searchable, so you can find out all kinds of information – what years a china pattern was sold, maybe, or reviews of an artist’s work, or newspaper articles about anything. It was really invaluable when I was tracking down information about Henry Ives Cobb, Jr. for, what eventually turned into that Wikipedia article.
Research links:
Findartinfo.com (great for deciphering mystery signatures)
http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/
Fultonhistory.comAnd, of course, Google’s image search and newspaper archive search (which I think was recently re-absorbed into Google proper), Google books, etc.
For general browsing and getting a sense of higher-end items’ lines, moves, and feelings, I like to spend time reading Elle Decor, and browsing sites like 1stdibs and Wyeth Home, and reading blogs such as midmodmom and alamodern.
My personal website is thatobject.wordpress.com, where I write about objects I’ve found and also address some attribution errors. It’s updated irregularly, when I find really interesting pieces or uncover mistakes I’m able to correct. If you have something you haven’t been able to identify, you can contact me through the site and I’ll take a look!
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After two months of mostly traveling (while keeping our store open), we’re back to our day-to-day eBay routine. Wake up, drink coffee, pack any overnight sales, list. Jay learned to list, so we’re listing up to 40 items a day. Though it still feels slow, our Oct 2013 sales were almost the exact same as Oct 2014. I think we just forget to be grateful for steady sales instead of being grumpy that things don’t grow exponentially. This guy tells a great story of retail arbitrage that shows there’s plenty of work hustling to sell Legos. We like our simple life.
The Weekly Scavenger Numbers
Our Store Week October 26-Nov 1, 2014
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Ryanne gets a fancy LA haircut, we sell a vintage Shalom needlepoint for $80. Mazel Tov!
Another week returning home, another shipping frenzy. Ryanne just finished shipping 50+ items. We set goals of double listing all week since we splurged on a second (cheap on ebay make offer) laptop. Jay mentions our ‘How to buy and sell Art‘ episode in this week’s questions. Jay also mentions another great post on Online Selling Experiement blog about how Ryan’s friend is trying to gross 100k this year on Amazon FBA.
The Weekly Scavenger Numbers
Our Store Week October 19-25, 2014
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We are consistently amazed by all our commenters posted numbers. One such person was really standing out recently and that was Steven Schultz. If you check out that last link to his numbers, you’ll be amazed what he has achieved in one year of full time selling on eBay. Steve is the perfect example of a scavenger who is willing to take risks on higher priced items for a larger payout. He’s also willing to ship crazy sized items if he can fetch the right price. He keeps track of his sales on GoDaddy Bookkeeping and uses the Yard Sale Treasure Map app (iPhone, Android) to find the booty. Thanks for talking to us Steven!
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Another week on the road with decent sales (including a very distressed Persian rug for $250), we’re working in LA until next week. This is the story of our continuing adventure of making a living while traveling. So far, so good.
The Weekly Scavenger Numbers
Our Store Week October 12-18, 2014
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We recently got a comment from a mysterious young person called SkyHigh saying they had paid their way through college selling on eBay. We had been waiting and wondering if someone like this existed- a young person savvy enough to see they could make good money on their own without having to have a boss. And indeed, Frank turned out to be a real (cool) person who agreed to talk to us about his process and history as a seller. Leave any questions for Frank in the comments. He says he’ll be happy to answer the best he can. Thanks Frank!
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We just landed home from Amsterdam and we’re just starting our packing and shipping frenzy. 188 items total. A note about this week’s numbers- after we recorded the podcast, we made a ton of sales! So the numbers on the post are more accurate than the number we discussed on the recording. Not a bad thing at all. Jay mention’s Mr. Money Mustache’s post about retirement savings. And here we go, packing and shipping like mad people.
The Weekly Scavenger Numbers
Our Store Week September 28-October 4, 2014
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