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Merry Christmas Day to all! @Steven I wanted to mention last week that I get such FOMO when I see your stereo equipment sell but I have to remind myself of the expertise you’ve developed over the years and the work and care you put into it to get where you are. We really appreciate you sharing it with us.
So let’s see what I had go out the door a while back that I haven’t mentioned yet. Here’s a good BOLO for anyone taking a closer look at any challenge coins they run across in the wild: A US Navy coin with a 4 star flag indicating full admiral rank, and with the admiral’s full name as manufactured. A consignment, it sold for $49 plus shipping.
We’ve lamented how it’s gotten harder to buy inventory at a viable price point. I try to look for items that are not well-known to be desirable, such as college-themed items from obscure institutions. Long tail, but consistent sellers for me. This exceedingly uninteresting 1973 book on Hollins College (now Hollins University in Roanoke VA) was .50 at an estate sale and sold for $26 plus shipping.
I love the postcards but they are almost always long tail for me. I’m probably pushing it with my asking prices. Another Great White Fleet ship Waterman card, this one the USS South Carolina, circa 1914, the lead ship in her class of short-lived dreadnought battleships. (Yes, Antique Frog, the US Navy class named after the Royal Navy’s 1906 HMS Dreadnought.) It sold for $13 plus shipping at eBay’s Standard Envelope for cards rate.
Here’s another mid-90’s ship’s plaque off the I-love-me wall, this from the USS Vella Gulf, a guided missile cruiser. It sold for $66 plus shipping on an offer out.
This Korium knife in broken, dug-up condition is an example of cheap knives sold mail order from ads in the back of Popular Mechanics etc. during the ‘50’s and ’60’s. Part of a large free lot, it was a quick and easy sale at $10 plus shipping.
Here’s one of the ads. Those of us of a certain age may remember them well.
My wife tended to a bit of kleptomania on her travels for work when she was younger, coming back with bar-hopping souvenirs including logo glasses, mugs, and paper coasters. Lots of them. Here’s one lot of 30 German, Polish, Swiss, and Czech beer coasters that sold for $19 plus shipping. A while back a prospective buyer messaged me something to the effect of “I’m interested, but those photos aren’t taken on a floor, are they?” I replied yes, but that floor was a lot cleaner than the bars where the coasters originally came from. Of course I never heard back from them, but the lot did sell to someone else soon enough.
Hi Steve – Do you do a video for any listing you think it will help, or do you have a minimum value? Recording and uploading one takes some time, but you did it for a $35 radio. Just wondering whether you consider that when deciding on doing a video or not.
This Christmas serving platter sold for $15, and I paid less than $1. The interesting thing about it was the message I received from the buyer: please pack this as if monkeys are going to have a party with an elephant… I live on steep switchback winding roads in Colorado you have to bubblewrap it over & over again & keep it away from the sides of the box. I get things smashed to pieces all the time use a big box with tons of padding good luck please believe me
I think maybe she has had some bad experiences with other eBay sellers? I received positive feedback with a message that it was packaged well.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184588999277
I’ve been listing jewelry from my one commission. I still have a pile left of items I want to test to make sure they are real before I list. These are the one type of item that is giftable in my inventory, so I’ve selling quite a bit. This bracelet was pretty nice, and I probably sold it too low, but it was part of my 25% off sale plus a offer to watcher. It sold for $39 and was shipped to Israel.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185164328142
I purchased a stereo a few years ago that sat in a death pile because I wanted to fix it. I finally decided that I didn’t have the time, so I separated out the speakers and stereo, and the speakers sold for $28. The total I paid was $4. Hopefully, the stereo sells soon.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185018685858
I paid less than $1 for a vintage but newer Sony Walkman. Sold for $26. The buyer sent one of those messages “do not include the invoice and pack securely please”, so maybe a drop shipper?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185061452612
I thought this was a very interesting buy. I was in Florida a few years ago and went to a flea market. This is a box of very old optical lenses I assume for making glasses. Purchased for $5 and sold on offer for $40. I was going to counteroffer for $50, but I was having dinner at my in-laws, and my SIL suggested just accepting it since it had sat for a few years with no interest. She’s not wrong.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184813928668
I guess this is a BOLO. A set of vintage art lights sold for $36. They aren’t something I thought was a big deal. I got these for free from one of my parents’ friends.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185081015573
A collection of vintage Snoopy items I received free from the same friend of my parents. Sold for best offer of $50 (I did counteroffer from $40 on this one. I guess my SIL wasn’t there to convince me otherwise).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184813931327
A bracelet and necklace that I agreed to ship direct to Australia (using Pirate Ship simple export rates) for $48 plus $12 shipping. These are also from my one commission.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185199831919
Lastly, my big sale on Etsy. This is one of two antique bourbon jugs I bought with about 150 whiskey pitchers and bottle at a live auction in Sept 2019. I paid around $29 for all of them, and I’ve used up my COGS on that a year or more ago. The first of these antique jugs sold on eBay for $90. This one sold for $106 with included shipping that came to about $8, so about $98 for the bottle.
In reply to: The Numbers: October 31 – November 6, 2021
Sales Report for: 11/6/21
Total Items in Store: 1222
Items Sold: 17
Gross Sales (Not including shipping and tax): $1,669.00
Net Sales (After fees): $1,438.00
Cost of Items Sold: $140.00
COGS Percent 9.74%
Net Profit Margin: 77.77%
Highest Price Sold: $472.00 Antique Miner’s Lamp
Average Price Sold: $98.18
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0.00
Sold via promoted listings: 9
Promoted Percentage: 52.94%
Average Days Listed: 284
Longest Listed: 880
New items listed: 19Blown away by the markers sale. Wow! I bet you danced a little jig when you packed those up to go.
So nice to have a strong week again. Best week of sales since January. Several >$100 sales pushed the average to almost $100. Quite a variety of sales from artwork to antique books.
Biggest sale was for an antique miner’s lamp that I put up for a rare-for-me auction and sold for $472. I’d been sitting on it for a while and watching similar sales as I wasn’t sure what to price it at since it was rare enough to have no recent comps. I decided to put it up for auction because a lot of the older lamps on auction had run up into big dollars. I purchased it at auction for $30. I think I might have been able to get more if I’d sat on it for fixed price, but feel that the $472 was a fair price for it. I had checked with a collector’s group on eBay to gauge interest and best offer I’d gotten from them was $360.
Half of the sales this week were of Christmas items. We picked up a large lot of vintage 1950’s ceramic Christmas figurines/planters/candle holders and those have been selling strong. Best sale from this lot was a Noel candle holder set that sold for $339. This one is definitely a BOLO. I wanted to call it “Sexy Noel Candle Holder” in the title but Cecile nixed that. Vintage Commodore Candy Cane Pixies Elves Noel Candle Holders W/ Box and Candles | eBay
Also had a rare Facebook Marketplace sale for $150. Sold a doll house that we originally purchased for my daughter when she was little. I had it up on eBay as well, but hadn’t gotten much attention there.
On the pro wrestling stuff, if you ever find vintage wrestling merchandise from the late 90’s and before, it is BOLO for sure.
I sold a hot pink late 80’s Sting hat to a buyer in Japan for $100+ a few years ago.
There are lots of wrestling fans with DEEP pockets, especially overseas. There is even a new show on A&E where the executives of WWF/WWE are hunting down old collectibles from wrestling’s yesteryear.
Yep! I knew that item would be valuable, but I considered valuable to be $50-60 at the sale. Never would have thought it would be worth that much!
So be aware, the star wars Pixar Cars crossover toys are definitely BOLO. I wish there would have been more of them!
This is definitely up there with as one of my best flips, maybe not the most I’ve ever sold something for be definitely the best ROI I’ve ever seen
Sold today for $550 (listed for $800) and bought for $3
Cool sales everyone! Thanks for sharing pics and info. I’ve learned so much from these postings.
I mentioned recently that my area of older homes is going through a new round of Fed-fueled housing bubble flip-mania. Contents of older homes are just dumped on the curb! I can’t help but stop and take a look at the junk. In the last couple of years i’ve amassed a ton of smalls that i throw in plastic totes. I finally put some lots together. 2 sold this week. They didn’t sell for a lot but most of it was saved from the landfill and was free anyway! $30 and $40
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363315466228
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363288377645At an estate sale in my neighborhood there was a huge collection of postcards that the person’s mother had collected. I didn’t want them ALL but the seller offered them to me for $40. There were about 30 binders. I pulled the cards, sold the ones I didn’t want and have been selling the empty binders. 4 empty vintage binders $45/free ship
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363275985238Still selling bike parts from my husband’s endless supply! BOLO for vintage anodized aluminum bike parts from the 80s and 90s. We picked up this Ringle Water Bottle Cage at a sale last week and it sold overnight to a buyer in Germany. Paid $1 sold $50
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284201882924
Have a great weekend everyone! Liz
So I just sold an unused 1999 Maxfield Parrish Calendar for $20 that I’d had for a while. I had bought it cheap a few years back figuring someone might want the pictures to cut out and frame. But the sale at the end of the year got me thinking, is 1999 the same day/date year at 2021? Meaning does the year have the same days (leap year or no leap year) and start on the same weekday, thereby making the calendar the same?
So I went to timeanddate.com (here specifically) and found the years that match:
1909, 1915, 1926, 1937, 1943, 1954, 1965, 1971, 1982, 1993, 1999 (Ding!), and 2010. There is a 11 year/6 year pattern in there, but you can just go to that website before each coming year, enter in that year, and you can get a list.
So if you have an old calendar or two (or twenty!) with any of those dates, make sure they are listed soon and they might sell. If they don’t, you may have to wait another 6 or 11 years. 🙂
Great sales! thanks for sharing. I had written a post for this but when i submitted it, it just disappeared! 🙁
Anyway, BOLO for art supplies. I know it has been mentioned before but in case anyone new doesn’t know. Sold these for less than they are worth but only pennies in…
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373370858927
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373370886757
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373372102193
My hoarder neighbor is moving and putting all kinds of junk on the curb. Sold some stuff this week from his garbage. He has 3 buildings to clear out, his basement and garage! Unfortunately, nothing was climate controlled or protected from moisture.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363213060730
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363169556000
Happy holidays everyone! Thanks to everyone for all the knowledge that is shared. Be well. Liz (catmom)
Topic: BOLO Bees nests?
JUST a heads up… I just learned yesterday that there is a market for those pesky bee’s nests that people in the ‘burbs come across from time to time in their yard. Even small pieces seem to sell. Weird, we always toss em with our leaves.
The book is “Cashing in on the American Dream how to retire at 35” by Paul Terhorst (1988)
I read about it in a CNBC article, in which Mark Cuban stated he read it before becoming wealthy.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/26/the-book-mark-cuban-read-in-his-3that-helped-him.html
I decided that it might be a book worth reading and checked Ebay for available books. I found what I thought were overpriced copies. After further digging I located a lot of 5 books, including this one for $14.oo shipped. I bought them and they on the way to me right now.
Within a matter of hours, the available copies on Ebay sold and have since been replaced by a couple of more expensive ones.
I bought my copy to read, but at these prices, I may read it very quickly and resell it.
I think this may be a very temporary price spike due to the article and suggest that if you have any copies of this book to list them quickly.
Happy Sunday everyone
For my latest semi-regular installment, here are some things that sold earlier this fall. I’m trying to get sort of caught up. Putting more time into eBay now I may be able to get to the point of selling enough to contribute something interesting here each week.
When I first came across this small Japanese plastic lacquerware-style box with notepad and mirror in my death piles I was sure it was not worth listing, but I’ve learned to research pretty much everything and to not trust my cheap-junk radar. It sold fairly quickly for $20 plus shipping. It was out of a big lot so I only have pennies in it.
Before practicing law (where I had to read so much every day for work that it ruined recreational reading for me for a time) I scoured used book piles for vintage true adventure books. Here’s one I enjoyed that’s about a pilot’s Alaska adventures in the ‘50s that still had its dust jacket and turned out to be a 1<sup>st</sup> edition, not that I cared about any of that when I originally bought it for a probably dollar or two or less in the ‘70’s or ‘80’s. It went for $39 plus shipping.
This Saudia Airlines clothing lint brush is a neat item that harks back to a different age of airline travel. The airlines were hemorrhaging money earlier this year but seem to be adapting to survive. I flew across country back in July and one thing I noticed is that reservations were fungible. We reserved a flight for a Wednesday but a few days before we were changed to a Thursday flight, and then we were changed again to a Tuesday flight. The airlines have weathered bad times before and hopefully will again, though air travel may look quite different going forward. It is a fascinating, extremely complex, ever-evolving industry. Back to the lint brush: It took a disappointingly long year-plus to sell for $12 plus shipping. The Lithuanian buyer paid $14 for shipping and I was happy that it made it. It was out of my in-laws’ estate.
Although this paperback was in very poor condition and half the pages were loose it sold for $5.60 plus shipping. I mention it because Casca: The Eternal Mercenary was a long running series originally written by Barry Sadler (singer/songwriter of the 1966 hit “Ballad of the Green Beret”) and is a great BOLO. While so many paperbacks are worth little to nothing, there are a number of mass market paperback science fiction, fantasy, and adventure series’ from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s that can sell for healthy prices. This copy could have sold for close to $100 if in excellent condition even though it’s not a first printing. Sadler himself led quite an interesting life which does not hurt the series’ popularity.
I enjoy postcards for their historical information but there are so many varieties it can be hard to determine value and desirability even with extensive research. I guess that’s why Popeye’s and other postcard sellers put so many cards at auction when they first list them, to see what happens. I went ahead and just listed this WWI era real photo card of a US Army drum and bugle corps band at what I thought was a high BIN price and it sold immediately for $15 plus .55 for the stamp.
I’ll add my thanks to Steven! Very informative – as well as everyone else’s sales.
This German musical beer stein took quite a while to sell, but eventually went to a buyer in Israel for $49 plus $23 shipping. The music only plays when the stein is lifted off its base, so I guess it’s not very desirable for music box collectors, and apparently it’s not a particularly interesting stein from a collector’s point of view, either. It was $5.25 at an indy thrift.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273882978406
This pair of Torque by Gargoyle sunglasses was in a yard sale free box. Both lenses had identical half-inch vertical cracks at the bottom but it’s a well-selling brand, if not real high end. It went for a best offer of $15 plus shipping after about a year listed.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273998570420
This US Navy challenge coin was a personal named coin of a Command Master Chief I knew a while back. He had a long career, was hard-core, and was very well-liked by the officers he worked for, his peers, and his sailors. I knew someone would want his coin and would pay a bit of a premium for it. It sold quickly for $55 plus shipping to a buyer whose ID identified him as a Navy vet. It was on consignment.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274458248377
Military unit wall plaques are a good BOLO, though it’s not a very well-kept secret what some of them can go for, so they can be hard to find cheap. This 1990s vintage one from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, took a day to sell for $68 plus shipping. It was a family item.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274473362280
This is a well-selling military item that I frequently run across that is more often undervalued. Late in WWII the military started publishing pocket-sized foreign language phrase books for many of the languages encountered by our forces worldwide. There must have been many thousands printed and distributed. The ones published during the war years sell best, but this 1953 printing of the German language guide still sold quickly for $30 plus shipping. It was $2 at an antique mall booth.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274467055746In reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 484: $1000 A Week Machine
Hi Ryanne & Jay
Thanks for the podcast and the congratulations. I listened to the show outside on a sunny Monday afternoon while washing hats (instead of sitting in front of a computer like I’ve been doing for several decades).
Here are my numbers for the week:
Total Items in Store: 4160
Items Sold: 43
Total Sales: $1282.13
Cost of Items Sold: $117
Average Price Sold: $29.82
Average Cost of Item: $2.73
Highest Price Item Sold: $294.95 Hallmark Keepsake Frosty Friends 1980 Ornament
Number of items listed this week: 68 worth approx. $1586
YTD Sales: $48204
YTD sales compared to this time last year: +19%
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 480
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 362
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 136
Sell-through rate (for the week): 1.03%
Hats sold this week: 32 (74% of sales) worth $575 (44% of sales $)My biggest sale of the week is a bit of a BOLO for anyone that is interested in such things. I found a box of “Frosty Friends” Christmas tree ornaments at an estate sale. I’d normally walk right past that kind of thing but I hadn’t found much at the sale and I idly looked a couple up on ebay to discover that they might be worth a few bucks. It turns out they are quite collectible & valuable – especially the oldest ones. I paid $35 for the box and I’ve already sold close to $600 worth of these ornaments.
I liked hearing the discussion about your car. My wife is getting embarrassed about the car I drive. The clear coat (paint) is peeling like it’s had a nasty sunburn. To me it’s a badge of honor :- driving a car I’ve owned for 14 years. When I replace it, it will most likely be due to pressure from my wife rather than social pressure from friends or neighbors. Not driving new cars is one of the contributing factors for me being able to ditch my day job to do ebay.
By the way, Jay, my wife and I do have a plan to eventually leave the Bay Area and head north out of the state but my wife’s elderly mother is in the area so we’ll be staying here for now, to be able to help her out.
I hope everyone has a great week.
Topic: Back in 1984
Thought the “in style” section (bottom left) would be a great BOLO! 😀
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