What Sells On eBay: CB base station, LL Bean hunting jacket, Lucchese boots, Watch Clock, Speakers, Pipe stand, Camera case, Vintage Doorbell

[Ryanne]

 Post your What Sold video in the forum>>[See the full post at: What Sells On eBay: CB base station, LL Bean hunting jacket, Lucchese boots, Watch Clock, Speakers, Pipe stand, Camera case, Vintage Doorbell]

[Doublythumbs]

I was surprised that your L.L. Bean didn’t sell for more. That was a really nice jacket. But awesome job on those Sansui speakers. I had a terrific week of good sales last week. Here are some of the notable ones.

Last fall on a walk, we came across a huge pile of stuff on the curb on the night before trash pickup. Someone must have been cleaning out their garage. So we picked through it all and pulled out a bunch of things that we thought we could either use or resell. One of them was this brand new refrigerator ice maker unit. Still in box. I listed it for $45 and it sold within a week. I love free stuff!
Whirlpool Automatic Modular Ice Maker Kit

I’ve been getting into dinnerware a bit more now that I’ve been becoming more educated on expensive brands and more sought-after patterns. I was really excited when I got two large totes full of Blue Danube China for $70. That may seem a lot, but it sells very well on eBay. I just sold this set of six small bowls alone for a BO of $44. I’ve already doubled my profits on the few other pieces I’ve sold out of it all, and there’s still so much more left!
Six Vintage Blue Danube Onion Pattern Fruit Dessert Bowls

Here’s another curbside garbage find. I spotted this small industrial Patton fan outside on garbage night out near my house. I thought it looked really cool, so of course I casually picked it up and pretended that I normally walk around with a fan. Brought it home and plugged it in only to find out that it didn’t work right. Too bad too, cause these things sell sometime for over $100. Well I listed it as For Repair and it sold for full price of $60. The guy messaged me afterwards telling me that he got it working, so that’s cool.
Patton Industrial High Velocity Air Circulator Fan

This was an unexpected sale. I bought a box full of these blank record labels at an auction for $2. They’re from an out-of-business recording studio here in my hometown. I’ve had them listed in sets of 10 for a looong time with not a lot of interest. So I was thrilled when a got an offer for nine sets at $9 each. A $90 sale! I wonder what they’ll be used for?
Wheeling WV Black Crest Records Blank Peel and Stick Record Labels

And finally, my big sale of the week. I acquired this Holland bench vise at an auction for $17.50. It wasn’t a particularly rare brand, but it was heavy! Made in USA too which is always something to look for. It sat out in my garage almost forgotten for about a year when finally i remembered to list it a few weeks ago. I priced it higher than I thought anyone would pay and took a best offer of $140. This thing was a beast to pack! It alone weighed over 33 lbs. But I’ve learned to double pack heavy stuff like this to keep the weight centralized in the box. My mailman was impressed with the Caution Heavy stickers that I finally was able to utilize.
Hollands 13 1/2 H Iron Bench Vise

[Sharyn]

Steve – thank-you for doing this each week. I really appreciate your videos, and I look forward to them.

Last week I sold mostly bread and butter items with no really high sales. I’ll just list a few with interesting stories.

I found this autographed CD in an online auction lot of CDs, DVDs, Cassettes, etc. This took some research because the group originally called themselves the Three Irish Tenors. There is another group with a similar name, so they had to change their name to The Celtic Tenors. They are an established group now, but this was a live recording prior to their first official album. The buyer sent me a photo showing him meeting the group relatively recently. Sold for $15.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183109231397

I’ve done very well with this Dansk ivy pattern dishes. I was selling these cups & saucers at two sets at a time, but the buyer wanted all of them. I was able to fit all 8 sets in a large flat rate box, which saved her money because she lives on the opposite coast from me. Sold for $35.80.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182776597982

I also sold the sugar and creamer from that set for $25:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182776537615

This vintage drafting tool adjusts to draw different shaped curves. Paid about $1, sold for $20.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183112050682

[sonia]

Sharyn,
Based on your recent sales reports on the Dansk ivy pattern china, I spotted some plates from that set recently and knew to get them – for about $1 a piece. Haven’t listed them yet b/c I haven’t sold china before and I’m scared of packing, but I should be able to make a decent profit once I do. So thanks!

[Sharyn]

You should be scared of shipping china! Seriously.

Wrap the item in bubblewrap. Then find a box that fits it snugly, or “wrap” it in cardboard making a sort of box for it. Wrap that in bubblewrap. Find a box that has an inch or so around your “cocooned” china, and use newspaper or other packaging along each side.

You want your item to sort of “float” in the box. If the box is pushed in half an inch or so on any side, it shouldn’t push on your item.

Sheldon Finley has posted a number of videos on YouTube showing his What Solds similar to Steve. He used to be active on this forum, but I think that he has gone on to other things. Some of his videos include packaging items at the end. You’ll have to go through the descriptions to find the ones where he shows packing, but he gave me many ideas on how to pack fragile items so they don’t break. I haven’t had any issues in a year or so with the exception of one tea set that I had pre-packed before I knew so much.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVT1wbvVXy6W1YPRJxQv2CQ/videos

[sonia]

thanks for the packing pointers, Sharyn. I remember watching those videos of Sheldon’s a while back. I think I have boxes that will fit the bubble wrapped china, but I think I need to hunt around to find some bigger boxes to serve as the outer box. Want to have this ready before listing.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Sonia: Got a tip from Linda Shields here on SL a few years back and have added this to our “cocoon” method of packing and been doing this ever since. Not a broken plate yet.

I use styrofoam salad and dinner plates layered in between the single ceramic-china plates along with bubble wrap.

Take the first plate and put a foam picnic plate [you get them at the grocery or dollar store]. Flip it so it is curved side up [convex]. This creates a 1/2″ or so air space. Then lay a sheet of bubble wrap over it and then set your next ceramic plate on top of this. Then another foam plate flipped over and bubble wrap. Continue this up for 4 to 6 plates only [no higher]. Now cut two square pieces of cardboard 1 inch bigger than the dia. of the stacked plates and put one on the top and bottom of your stack. Now stretch wrap that all over numerous times. The stretch wrap ties the stack all together and pulls inward on all sides and doesn’t allow the plates to shift l/r or u/d. This whole stack [now stretched wrapped together is wrapped in 50 lb. brown kraft paper and taped. Then that bundle is wrapped with the 1″ bubble wrap. Now proceed to the next plates if you have more. If only a couple, those are done the same way on the stack is not as tall. Remember only 4 to 6 max. plates per stack.

Now you will have two “bundles of plates”. Then package these into the main outside shipping box leaving as Sharyn mentioned about an inch all around. [Floated in the bigger box]. You can also wrap the stack of plates with the self made cardboard box in place of the stretch wrap, but we prefer the stretch wrap because it gives a little bit. Or combine the two techniques.

But remember handling anything delicate, brittle or easily breakable takes much longer to pack. We can spend as much as 30 to 45 minutes and at times an hour packing up a set of dinner plates and combining them with a set of glasses all in one box.

Ceramics, glass, china, porcelain is not a “Throw and Go” packing technique.

Hope this helps or gives you something to help you design your own system. Linda Shields idea sure helped us figure out the best way for us to ship our plates. About 3/4ths of our inventory is glass, pottery, ceramics, china, breakables. Only had 2 or 3 breakages since 2002.

Michael at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

[sonia]

Mike,
Thanks for reminding me of Linda Shields’ packing tip with the styrofoam plates! My only question is – if you’re adding so much space between plates and then packing 2 or more bundles of plates into the same package, isn’t that exterior box end up being really big? Like over the priority mail dim weight threshold? Are your customers willing to pay the resulting super high shipping prices for these huge packages?

Sonia

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Hi Sonia: It doesn’t really add that much to the height of the stack. A 10: dia. dinner plate stack of 6 plates gets about a 1/4-3/8″ or less added in between them. So about 6-1/2″-7″ high. Then add the thick bubble wrap around the outside for approx. 3/4″ and I end up with a stack about 8″ high x 11″ x 11″. If it turned out to be a whole set of 12 [if placed side by side] that would be in a box about 12″x10″x24″=2,880 cubic inches, so just a little over into the DIM. Doesn’t add that much.
If items hit into DIM weight, doesn’t matter to us, Shipping is what it is, always has been and always will be. We don’t risk breakage and having to deal with breakage complaints over a couple of dollars on a $75 to $125 +/- sale. We never worry at all about shipping. We know our costs on shipping and always calculate enough to cover it. Profit is made in the “buying stage” and then the bottom line is if customers want it they pay it. No if’s and’s or but’s.
To you phrase “Super High”, that is relative to the buyer. Just sold last week a new in the box massage table for $125 dollars and the customer paid $98 to ship it instead of cust. pick-up. It was 42″x32″x10″ and weighted 60 lbs. He didn’t care and neither did we.
Another angle on this is why care about a dollar or two extra shipping costs when we have found a piece of glass for $5 and selling it for $100 and shipping costs them $19 dollars instead of us skimping on packaging and worrying about a broken item arriving and all the headache that goes along with it just to save the customer say $3 to $4 on shipping.
On our free shipping items that weigh over a lb. We just take the finished weight and build in a Zone 8 fee plus 30% mark up. Anyone in zones 6 or less pay more for shipping, zones 7 and 8 pay the exact shipping. The mark-up is because we always are running a 15% off sale and take offers and by marking up the zone 8 column prices we allow for that discount and lower offer so that allows the zone 6,7,8 guys to not end up paying under.
As I mentioned to Jay a few weeks back, who knows how much shipping costs are that are built into an item you find for a couple of dollars and seller for 80 times that. Example: a $5 fenton glass basket we get at auction. Sell for $95.99 and free shipping. Then what was the shipping costs vs. the selling cost of the item. There is no way for anybody to know but us. Guess what we, sell porcelain and glass items a lot in the $90 to $125 range. Was the shipping $5, $10 or $40 out of that $125. Customer didn’t care, they just wanted that eclectic, unique, Lladro porcelain piece.
Now if we sold commodity items and every body under the sun could get them and are also selling them, that’s another story, but must of our inventory sells without much question on shipping. About 75% to 80% of our inventory is breakables.
We sold a bronze sculpture about two years ago for $450 dollars. We made a wooden crate in our studio shop and secured it inside and screwed the crate together and charged the customer $150 to make the crate and shipping ran about $150. he didn’t blink and eye. We have a 100 year old Nippon vase that will be about for Sale, that will be about 24″ x 15″ x 15″ and shipping will be what it is.Sold a HP wide format printer end of last summer for $1,100 and then shipping was $250 on top of that and the customer just raved about the printer and the over all cost. And lastly we used to sell a few pinball and arcade machines. We skidded all those up, used furniture pads on them, stretched wrapped them all over and sent them by commericial freight carrier. The 16 wheeler truck backed-up right in our driveway and use a hand truck with a hydraulic lift gate and took them away. Each shipment was $250 flat fee to the customer, but they didn’t seem to mind. So again, it is all relative to the customer base, relative to the objects one sells, relative to the desire-demand vs. availability and how bad they want it.
But if you are a seller who sells nothing but T-shirts or things one throws into a padded envelope then maybe a dollar or two does matter. But we try to stay away from those items due to way too much labor for too low of a margin in return.
So long story ended, we don’t worry too much about the shipping costs and when we get any type of message about high shipping costs, our pat answer, is “shipping is what it is, thanks for your patronage and supporting american small business and we hope to see an order forth coming”. If it does great, if not, just keep listing with the radio on or making art in our studio.

Hopes this sheds some light on the topic. Your question opened up an opportunity to expand into a broader area, but maybe gives food for thought in other areas.

Good luck with the dinner plates.

Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art.

[sonia]

Mike,
Thanks for sharing your perspective and example details. Makes a LOT of sense. Now to get the plates listed!
Sonia

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Well good luck. I am sure you will settle into a happy win-win middle ground with them.

It was all just my opinion and one person’s opinion is just another person’s situation comedy! 🙂

mike at MDCG in Atl.

[ChristineR]

I’m listing-challenged and somewhat sales challenged lately, but thought I’d chime in with some what solds. No home runs except the Ehrman needlepoint kit cache, which I already issued a bolo about.

Fun retro MCM find. The older ladies at the independent thrift care nothing for stuff like this. https://www.ebay.com/itm/332192711137 Paid .50 cents per cup and they went to San Fran. They showcase the fussy stuff. I found some butterscotch bakelite handles that go for over $150 in the bin they use for household junk drawer stuff. Love it.

Here’s a story. Went to GW and found a cool MCM “painting” on canvas – it’s actually a print upon closer inspection. The friendliest worker offered they had two more “paintings” in the back and they priced them low because he thought they were fakes, which I bought without really looking on my way to work. Turns out it’s by the “world’s most reproduced artist” (ugh!) and the two from the back were just prints on a board not a canvas. But, this small one sold for $55. Not bad and the buyer was super happy to get it! I paid $7.99. https://www.ebay.com/itm/332525884393

This is the kind of retro stuff I can’t resist buying. It took a while but finally sold. Paid $5 at the Palm Springs vintage market. https://www.ebay.com/itm/332174117585

Death pile sale. I think I had these sheets as a girl in the 1970s. Paid $2. Something weird happened to the opening photo. https://www.ebay.com/itm/232637530196

And now for a dud. I was so excited to find this brand I heard about the Youtube but it sat and sat despite price reductions. I finally ran a .99 cent auction to be rid of it. https://www.ebay.com/itm/332573005176

[sonia]

Yeah, when I found a Dale of Norway sweater once I was so excited but I decided to look it up anyway, and was extremely surprised that most of them don’t sell for very much.
I LOVE your multi-color mugs find/sale!

[pythonesk]

I’m actually shocked that those sweaters don’t sell for more. They are hugely expensive when new…

[SilverFoxFinds]

Decent week had some high sales and some lower-priced ones.

Antique pickle castors/jars can fetch a nice price. I bought a carrier and this blue jar at a recent estate sale, but knew the jar didn’t fit the carrier, so have separated them out. Haven’t listed the carrier yet, as I wanted to do a little bit more research, but the jar sold quickly (which means I might have underpriced it): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pressed-Glass-Aqua-Blue-Pickle-Castor-Jar-Insert-ONLY-4-1-8-Tall-3-1-4-Dia/323145005498

Perhaps the lowest price sale of the week, but I can’t help but list things that I know can find a home and I don’t want to simply end up the landfill. These were part of the large box of free kitchen items given to me by a friend who was cleaning out her catering kitchen: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Stainless-Steel-Replacement-Beaters-fit-my-old-B-D-Power-Pro-MX-250-others/323030018705

I can’t say no to paint by numbers, so I’m glad they can earn some decent money. I paid $1.50 for this set of 2 in an online auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-of-2-Large-Vintage-Paint-by-Number-Farm-Country-Landscape-Painting-18-x-24/323015094718

Spotted this Duluth leather handbag at a Savers Thrift for $10, and know they are worth multiples of that: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Duluth-Trading-Lifetime-Leather-Medium-Sling-Bag-Cognac-10-W-x-2-D-x-9-H/323066424018

Bought a large perfume lot at an estate sale a few months back, and this most highly valued one (oddly, given all the brand names found, though it is discontinued) finally sold for $100. Smells divine, and I am not really a perfume person: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Crabtree-Evelyn-India-Hicks-Island-Living-Spider-Lily-Eau-de-Toilette-100ml/322889691931

These NOS blank TDK cassette tapes were a recent yard sale find for $2, sold for $100. Have one more box to sell: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Box-of-10-NOS-New-Sealed-TDK-SA-C90-Cassette-Tapes-Japan/323142181263

Glad for those sales last week, as this week is feeling, erm, “soft.” Silver lining: I’ve finally been able to list and list, and have both worked through some death piles AND rediscovered part of my office floor. It’s all about the little things. 🙂

[aperture]

Nothing

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by aperture.

[aperture]

Sorry – had a bit of a fail before trying to post a few items that sold, doing bad formatting [url] [/url] and then trying to undo bad formatting. Anyway, I am taking a second shot.

I have been selling on eBay since the start of 2016 and have always had just a little store (70 ish items), but am retiring this summer from my 9-5 and so working to grow my store. At present I have 112 items in my store and I am trying to list more everyday. My goal is to have 1000 items by September and get Top Rated status sooner. I have had a few wobbles along the way – canceled items, late shipping on a few last summer. All this has been opportunities to learn. J+R’s podcast and this forum have been valuable for accelerating the learning.

Here is my what sold last week:

I found this jacket at a thrift store and was impressed with the embroidery and etc. so paid $5 for it. On return home, I discovered the inspiring Stephon Marbury story behind it and that the jacket would not bring big $$$s. I was happy it sold to someone in Australia through GSP. https://www.ebay.com/itm/STARBURY-NYC-3-BROOKLYN-NY-VARSITY-JACKET-EMBROIDERED-CONEY-ISLAND-SIZE-XL/192373735478?hash=item2cca5e4036:g:ZJ0AAOSwjodaFvhp

When I first was getting started, I did not have a clear idea of what would sell and what was too much trouble (e.g too heavy to be valuable, too fragile etc.) I picked up this bottle of Pepsi from 1976 and stuck it in my store and there it has sat for the last 2 years.
I was just recently thinking I should take it down because it was never going to be valuable enought to anyone to cover shipping. Then it sold! I guess that is always the story – things don’t sell until they do. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-Bicentennial-Pepsi-Colorado-Centennial-Commemorative-Red-White-Blue-USA/192102577487?hash=item2cba34b54f:g:fVsAAOSw241Yl1qI

I may have priced this hat too low. It sold about 3 hours after I listed it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Jimmy-Buffett-Air-Margaritaville-Charleston-Ball-Cap-Hat-Green-Key-West-USA/192487259924?hash=item2cd1227f14:g:0X4AAOSw17papFeV

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ski-Doo-New-OEM-Snowmobile-Modular-Insulated-Face-Mask-4453420090/192487205198?hash=item2cd121a94e:g:aGsAAOSw1J5asD7A

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-School-2006-Nike-Air-Huarache-Elite-TB-Black-US-Men-Size-11-VG-pre-owned/192133596851?hash=item2cbc0e06b3:g:u5MAAOSwdGFYzbTo

Came across this rare beauty at an estate sale and paid twice as much for it as another knife I bought: $2 instead of $1. When pricing this, I saw some vintage Carbon Steel Henckels going for as much as $120 and others for around $40s. I decided to choose a middle price and may have undershot again since it sold in just a few days after listing. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Carbon-Steel-JA-Henckels-Twinworks-102-9-Chef-Knife-Made-in-Germany/192485695412?hash=item2cd10a9fb4:g:9UAAAOSwXaxarZRS

There was a discussion on the forum about what other podcasts/youtube people follow and there was mention of another ebayer that has youtube videos. I watched one of his videos about what he bought at a flea market and it included one of these web belts. I was at an estate sale the same day and found this in the garage with old ropes and useless garbage.
I picked it up with about 2 pounds of osmocote (for my plants) for $1.50.
Sold right away on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Army-Vintage-M1956-Canvas-Pistol-Web-Belt-Vietnam-War-33-Expandable/192485716031?hash=item2cd10af03f:g:BE4AAOSwTOtarY4F

Found a brand new motorcycle helmet at an estate sale and paid $25 for it.
This spare windscreen was next to it and I (as well as the estate seller) thought it went with my helmet. Doing my research, I learned it was for a different helmet all together.
Listed it and have it packed up by the door to go out this morning.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HJC-HJ-11-Clear-Shield-Visor-for-CL-33-Motorcycle-Helmet-AC-3/192475131773?hash=item2cd0696f7d:g:KysAAOSwQbdanshM

I have about 100 additional items that I have not yet listed. I have a few things hindering me from growing my store at this point. First is time it takes to list. This I will overcome on July 1 when I retire, though I am planning a month-long road trip with my daughter. Next is the need to start capturing my eBay cash stream for accounting purposes. Finally, staying small has made it easy to find everything when it sells. I look forward to tackling these issues in the coming months and scaling up for the holiday buying season ahead. Best wishes to you all.

[pythonesk]

I haven’t posted our sales in a while. This whole month has been very soft for us, but we did have a couple days where the cha chings were back.

Highest sale was this 1905 Sears Catalog that we got at our local auction for $72, sold for 220:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112368981203

Sold these 2 blankets for $60. They were in the vintage airstream that we bought, so basically free:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112842711029

Little wooden carved goddess, picked up for a buck and sold for 25:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112347631524

Large pink linen tablecloth, got it for a buck at a rummage sale, sold for 50:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112164686650

Model A restorers club magazines from 1959-1962, got these in a big box of books at the auction. The whole box was only $5 and we’ve sold several other things out of here. Sold for $50:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112842589903

I don’t know what possessed me to price this hat so high, but it was vintage and in pristine condition, and I guess the diesel motor thing didn’t hurt. Picked up this hat for a buck and sold for $50:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112842564011

Vintage small engine repair manual, got for 50 cents at a rummage sale, sold for $37:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112109190559

Got these vintage glasses for a buck at a yard sale and sold for $42:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112000794021

3 small Marimekko remnants that I’ve had for ages, sold for $33:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112053930027

Feather & Down pillow insert, paid $1, sold for $25:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112587831498

And several smaller bread-n-butter type sales. I hoping that things pick up a bit. We’ve got 970 things in our store and have been selling for 2.5 years.

[Eve Everett]

Hello, I hope everybody has been finding great stuff. My life is in a bit of flux: I’m renovating an abandoned house that I bought, teaching overseas online (more on that when the house dust settles), and doing a lot of traveling. Anyway, here is what I have been up to. Good hunting everyone.

[Author]

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