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Last week was a solid, steady week of sales for me on eBay. Nothing crazy, but right in line with my goals at the moment. As unpredictable and frustrating as eBay can be, there is something comforting about having one of those weeks where it goes basically how you would script it. And those weeks are more common than we realize.
I sold 23 items for just under $1000 gross and about $650 net. A strong 75% of my sales were my card lots organized by team, which might be my best showing yet. This has been my reselling focus with pretty much all my unscheduled “work time” going towards organizing my inventory and analyzing what sells. It’s a great feeling to see it pay off with listings selling quickly for full price or close to it. As @ChristineR predicted a few weeks ago, I’ve done well with college cards because of March Madness. There is a lot more diversity in cards now than there was a few years ago, with niche sports that had been previously ignored getting some love, and I have been trying more to use that to my advantage. Like with this UConn Huskies women’s basketball card lot. I couldn’t have made a UConn women’s basketball card lot a few years ago. Cards manufacturers simply weren’t making cards of enough players and the infrequent cards weren’t great quality. Special features like autographs or serial numbers were too rare. But that’s been changing. The large manufacturers have expanded their portfolios into more niche offerings, and smaller unlicensed card companies have really improved the quality of their cards.
I love making these cards lots because each one tells a little story. It’s been about a year of trial and error to figure out that I really need to do my research on each team. Some players will just never sell because they are not popular (even hated) to fans of that team, and other teams (like with UConn’s women’s team) you want to strike while the team is having a moment, don’t hold back anything and sell as much as I can right now. Of course, the different features of each card and my pricing matter as well. I could put together a lot of 10 lousy UConn cards that will never sell, or find cards which sell in the hundreds. But $30 to $40 is a good price point to catch those impulse buyers or new collectors, as well as card flippers or collectors of a certain team. It’s a decent enough price that I can make $10 to $20 profit and the buyer still feels like they’re getting a bargain. I know that because I get a lot of feedbacks like that. I knew all of this already, but there’s a huge difference between having the knowledge and applying it to your buying and selling so that you’re making a higher profit or selling items faster. It’s become a part of my thought process, and that’s been a distinct change.
About 10% of my sales were from random, scavenge of the week type items, with my favorite this signed Grand Ole Opry program which sold shortly after an end and sell similar for $65 ($54 net). I didn’t realize until just now that I bought this in December 2021 as part of a huge order for $28. I wouldn’t pay anything close to that amount for an item like this today, but still a solid profit.
A smaller sale in every possible way was this 1966 Kansas City Chiefs vs Houston Oilers program which netted me about $19 after fees. Bought late last year for a couple bucks. I will be curious to see how the reselling market treats magazines over the next handful of years. Little slices of history (love the old advertisements) and there is something to be said for holding the physical object…but real estate is so expensive and so much stuff has been digitized. For now, I think older magazines and (especially) obscure ones are always worth a second look.
I didn’t do much with individual cards on eBay this week, and honestly expect that to continue, but I will always make room in my store for obscure valuable cards like this jersey relic card of Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh (released in a Japan-only box set 25 years ago) which sold for $65 ($56 net). This customer bought a different Oh card from me, so I sent him a few bonus items (commemorative tickets) which I purchased recently for a few bucks. This buyer sent me a message before buying which made it obvious this card was for his personal collection, and I made a solid profit on both sales to him, so I cleared out those freebies which cost me a few bucks and maybe could have sold for $20 eventually. But I’m just happy they’re going to the right home.
What did you sell this week?
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/267200389592
Cell2jack Cellphone to Home Phone Adapter Make and Receive Cell Phone Calls
I picked up a home cordless phone set at Goodwill for $7 a couple weeks ago. While I’m pretty sure this is a desirable phone set, I haven’t actually even researched the phone yet. The reason I bought it was because this little dongle was in there, and it sells for $30 pretty much instantly. I listed it, and instant sale as expected.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266966604290
Corduroy 3pc Vintage Mens Suit Set Beige 42″ Chest
Sold on offer for $100. Paid $7 at Goodwill a long time ago. This was one of the “death wardrobe” items my kids listed for me last year. This is not the first time I’ve sold a beige 3 piece corduroy suit for $100+. I hope I find another one! This one fit my son and I tried to convince him to wear it to Homecoming but he wouldn’t commit. Too bad – he would have been the coolest dude there!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266860042294
Crayola 1903 Stock Box with Original Wooden Stock Box + Bonus Sealed
Sold on offer for $45. I paid around $4 for this at a “name your price” “charity” yard sale. Those ‘nice’ old ladies turned rabid when I offered them $10 for a few items, which was more than I would have typically paid at a yard sale for what I had. I did really want the items so I offered $20 after their harassment. They were running a pretty good racket.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/267145327321
G-Star Raw GS01 ARC 3D Slim fit Men’s Size 40 x 34 Twisted Denim Jeans NWT
I sold 3 pair of hoarder collection pants for $100+ each this week. Made my week! This pair was the most interesting. Even if you don’t know men’s clothing, just casually browsing the men’s section is MUCH easier to pick out unique/valuable items than a women’s section. These pants would have caught my eye in a thrift store for sure so keep an eye out for unique men’s pants or jeans.
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Those name your price sales really grind my gears. But that attitude of “name your price — but only if it’s a high price” is a lot more common than you might think. I’ve seen it a bunch of times at random thrift stores, card shows, even media sales with “special” items. It’s the downside of having a computer in our pocket at all times. You don’t even need to care in order to sell stuff anymore. Fortunately the weirdos who don’t want to price anything are more than offset by those lovely folks who underprice their things.
Those jeans look real nice. I’m a broken record here, but it’s such a learning experience seeing your posts and the types of unique items which sell for you. I’m filing away this knowledge for future scavenging trips. It’s nice to see that these quality clothing items are still selling for strong prices.
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/235819215589 This was one of those estate sales where I went late. I personally like this kind of pastel 50s kitchenware very much but it hasn’t overall done well for me. However, I got a great price for these eventually. China can be an awfully slow seller but then again the Denby got scooped up really quickly.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235867827626 This was an oddball purchase. I posted the other bear I sold. Should have bought them all for $15-20 apiece. I hope to get my hoard down enough so that I can pop on a good grouping like this was instead of worrying about where I’m going to put it and feeling guilty.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/335799043079 Never heard of this brand but I could tell it was quality. An unwanted Christmas gift at Goodwill. Paid $12.99-
Christine, I love that espresso cup set. I don’t know anything much about china beyond what I’ve learned from yours and Sharyn’s posts, but even I can tell that’s a nice pattern! $65 too, nice sale.
Those stuffed Hansa dolls are wild. Best part about finding them: if those sales get you motivated to do some spring cleaning, that’s priceless! Definitely want to get yourself at least enough space where you could pounce on a scavenging opportunity like that. I know you can do it…and probably a lot faster than you think!
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