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02/07/2019 at 2:20 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Kodak cameras, Coleman cooler, Weejuns, Moto X boots, Magnavox B&W TV, Zenith record player, 8mm Tape rewinder #56580
It’s a shame the Kodak cameras aren’t worth a whole lot. I think they’re really cool. But I guess since the specific film isn’t made anymore, it’s only the collectors who are interested. Anyways, I made quite a few interesting sales last week. There’s too many to list here, but here’s some of the more notable highlights…
When I saw that Coleman cooler in your video, I did a double take! I just sold the same exact model last week! Mine had a few extras included, so I was able to get $100 for it. I paid the minimum price of $2 for it at an auction. I had to make a Frankenstein box for it just as you did. It went all the way to California, so shipping was around $80. I’m so thankful I put the correct weight in the listing.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/302836549121I acquired an old scrapbook at an auction that was filled with old snapshots and school photos. It looked like it belonged to a high school girl from the 1930s. I listed a bunch of class photos as separate listings and within a week got a message asking for a deal on all of them. So I settled for $60 for six. But what was cool was the person lived just in the next town over from me. He chose local pickup and was at my house the same day. He was younger than I was, but he said he knows plenty of local people what would either have been one of the people in the photos or would know who they were.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/302836549121I was just about to sell these as a lot for $15 or $20 when I thought to see if these specific kinds of picture frames would be popular. And I’m glad I did! They’re labeled as micro mosaic photo frames, and they typically sell for $15 or 20 each. I’m glad I did the research on these, and I’ll be looking for them in the future.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303032880713Last week I mentioned the Emerson portable tube radio that your radio from last week reminded me of. I bought this at an auction for $4. Unfortunately, it took a ‘B’ size battery which either isn’t produced anymore or would have been too much effort to track down a usable one. So I sold it as is for $30 (actually, I sold the old ‘B’ battery that came with it earlier as a collectable for $15).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303018942260My big sale of the week was pretty exciting. Last year, I purchased a gigantic lot of photo slides for $105 at an auction. It literally filled my entire car with carousel wheels and binders full of them. Over the last couple of months, I’ve been slowly going through and listing them, and have since made my money back and then some. But this sale really proves that slides are a nice money maker if you’ve got something spectacular. This was a lot that I put together for a person in the UK. I made a custom listing because he didn’t want to pay shipping fees 4 times understandably. Four slides for $160! 3 were of Reno, Nevada in 1975. The photographer was actually a professional photographer and graphic designer, so he knew how to take a good photo. I’ve got thousands more to list too. Talk about a great pipeline!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303045613293Jan 27 – Feb 2
Total Items in Store: 2084
Items Sold: 36
Total Sales: $1,011
* above yearly average of $915
* above 2018 total week sales of $521
Highest Price: $160 (Lot of four 35mm photo slides of 1975 Reno, NV)
Average Price: $28
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $46
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 64Another decent week on my end. And you two had an exceptional week I see! That’s what I’m striving toward but I know it’ll be a long while before I make it up to that level. But I’m making great money now and it’s all being put away for when I don’t have my standard day job anymore, one way or the other.
We narrowly avoided a catastrophe on Saturday. I was down in my basement taking some photos when I started hearing an odd dripping sound. I investigated and found water dripping from the ceiling onto my inventory. The first thing I did was moved everything out of the way, then I ran upstairs and opened the laundry room door and there was a fountain of water spraying up out of the back of the washing machine from where a pipe broke! If I hadn’t been down there or if it was a day that I was at work, it would have been a disaster. Luckily nothing downstairs was damaged. Water sucks!
Other than that, it was an uneventful week. The university where I work closed for the last 3 days of the week due to weather, so it was really nice to stay home and concentrate on listing. I felt like I got so much done! And it kind of gave me a sense of what it will be like once I take the plunge and go full time. I’ll need to work on a better schedule though. I wasn’t getting started until noon, which to me is way too late.
Wow, it looked like you had a busy week of packing to do. Good thing they were all worth the effort! Especially that 90 lb amp. I just sold an Emerson tube radio that looked similar to that RCA that I’ll talk about next week. Here are some highlights from 1/20-26.
We visited the amish country in Ohio last summer and we happened upon an amish ran thrift store. I didn’t find much, but this speaker doohickey caught my eye. It’s an electric telehorn. I think it hooks up to a telephone somehow. That’s about all I know. There was almost no information online about it. So I pulled a high price out my behind and ended up taking a best offer of $165. I only paid $3 for it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303012984177This cheap plastic toy country music tour bus bank came out of a box lot that I paid $5 for (each sellable item came to .83 cents). It nearly went to the yardsale pile, but I thought to look it up anyways. One sold for $10, so I listed it for $15. It sold after a couple months for full price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302978834124At the end of an auction last summer, a guy asked me if I wanted a stack of board games that he bought but only wanted one out of. There wasn’t anything really great, but I said sure. Included in the pile was an old backgammon set. The board was water damaged and actually moldy, but the pieces looked special. I tested them to see if they were bakelite. They weren’t, but were lucite rather. Apparently bakelite backgammon pieces will fetch a lot of money. My lucite one’s weren’t too bad either. I listed them for $50 and they sold after over a month. I would have tried for more but I was missing just one piece. I’ll be on the lookout for these for now on.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302986453112Here’s my big sale of the week. I acquired this southwestern Serape blanket at an auction for $17. They’ve sold well for me in the past so I knew it was a good buy. I listed it for $150 and almost immediately received a message from someone saying that I was underpricing it. He was really nice and gave me a lot of information including the specific location where it came from and said it was worth closer to $375. So I changed my listing and after about 3 months I took a BO of $300. Thank you random blanket expert!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302918925907Here’s a neat thingamabob that came out of a box lot of various electronics. It’s a Biddle Megger Insulation Tester. I like electronic things, but this was beyond me. It was in stellar condition though and included all the paperwork and case. There were a few in poor condition that have sold for around $50 or so. I listed mine high at $150 and took a best offer of $130.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/30292560470301/28/2019 at 1:27 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 396: Guaranteed Delivery? How is that working? #56016Jan 20 – 26
Total Items in Store: 2054
Items Sold: 38
Total Sales : $1,550
* above yearly average of $914
* above 2018 total week sales of $953
Highest Price: $300 (Chimayo Santa Fe Saltillo Serape Wool Saddle Blanket)
Average Price: $41
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $126
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $0
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 56It was a very good week this time around. I keep hitting my 1K+ goal and I LOVE IT! Which is a good thing too because I feel like I’m hanging on by a thread at my day job. The work is getting harder and I just don’t feel like I’m getting the compensation I deserve. If I’d had known that this place doesn’t give raises, I would have negotiated for a better salary when I started four years ago. There’s no use asking for a raise now though since the university is in a financial catastrophe. So it might be sooner rather than later that I present my 2 weeks notice. The instability of this place is causing too much anxiety.
No auctions or scavenging this week. The auctions in my area are few and far between at this time of year. But that’s okay because I have a nice sized Opportunity Pile to work on in these winter months. I still have a crapload of slides that I’m slowly working through and selling. And one day here soon I’m going to learn all about marbles. I’ve got HUNDREDS of marbles of all styles and ages, and I know there’s a few gems in there.
Your caller today about listing a tabloid for really high just because he didn’t want to part with it yet reminds me about a rug I have for sale. I bought this beautiful wool Persian rug at an auction for $50. When we moved into our new house, I decided instead of having it rolled up in storage, it would be nice to display while it was for sale. And it really ties the room together! So while I still want to sell it eventually, I set the price to $1500… basically a price I can’t refuse.
Thanks, Steven. That’s what I was thinking to when I listed it.
It probably was just a simple capacitor or something like that. Hopefully the guy who bought it will know what to do. And he gave me positive feedback so I know he wasn’t disappointed.I’ve parted out a couple reel to reel players so far and the idler wheel has been nearly the first thing to sell both times. It must wear out after a while. Here are some of my different kind of sales last week…
This paint by numbers art set came out of a box lot. I only paid $4 for the whole lot (each sellable item came to .67 cents). The box set contained two 8×10 pictures and little tins of paint that were sealed shut so I couldn’t’ tell if there was paint still paint left inside. I listed it for $20 and it sold almost instantly. Maybe I should have priced it higher. But oh well.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303028709633I acquired this old Zippo lighter in a box lot of odds and ends. I paid $21 for the lot with each sellable item costing $2.33. Zippos are all over the map in terms of sold prices. So I decided to let the market determine the value. I set it as an auction starting at $30, and the bids started coming in almost immediately. I’ve never had that happen before. It ended up selling for $60 with 11 bids (9 unique bidders). That tells you there’s a good market for vintage Zippos, even plain ones like mine.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303025576670I love ephemera! I love doing the research and it’s so easy to store and ship. It doesn’t always bring in a lot of money, but it always sells reliably. This little Merle Norman cosmetics sales booklet came from a treasure trove of papers and catalogs (a lot of John Deere stuff which I priced quite high). This was the first of that lot to sell, and it sold for $20. Each item from that box lot ended up costing me $1.56.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303028759107Here’s my big sale of the week. I really paid up on this Golden Shield brand transistor radio at an auction for $35. But it looked pristine and still had all the original paperwork and box! I brought it home and plugged it in and it didn’t work. Boo! I made sure to completely convey that in the description though. It still sold after a few week for full price of $160. If I had the knowledge of electrical repair, I know I could have gotten more for it after fixing it. Oh well, still a good price!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/30302961764701/21/2019 at 2:26 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 395: What Lifestyle Is eBay Supporting For You? #55517Jan 13-19
Total Items in Store: 2038
Items Sold: 35
Total Sales : $989
* above yearly average of $901
* above 2018 total week sales of $886
Highest Price: $160 (Golden Shield Deluxe Transworld 90 Wave Band Transistor Radio)
Average Price: $28
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $113
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $.50 cents
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 85!Well, I said last week that I would focus on listing, and I nailed it! 85 new unique listings in a week. That might be my personal best. And it’s always nice when newly listed items sell on the same day or a few days later.
Not much else has been happening in our neck of the woods. I went to an estate sale after work one day but everything was tagged with high prices. I overheard the lady running the sale say that she had a shop, which indicated to me that she knew how to research prices and price accordingly. Well good for her, but if they need all of that stuff out of the estate asap, she’s got to price to sell. I didn’t want to leave empty handed, so I got a little Joe Cool Camel cooler for .50 cents.
We’ve got the roof replacement all set up and scheduled, so that takes some weight off of my mind. Next up, taxes! Should be easy this year because I set up all the framework last year. I’ll just have to adjust some deductions and things and ship it off to my CPA. That’s money well spent right there. Tax stuff just goes way over my head when I get into it.
01/17/2019 at 11:19 am in reply to: Post a photo of something that was awkward or embarrasing to buy! #55323LOL! What a great thread! I remember finding a pair of latex breast forms in the Goodwill outlet bins. They were still sealed in the box, so it wasn’t gross. It didn’t dawn on me how weird it was to buy them until I got to the checkout line. Luckily the cashier didn’t open the box to see what was inside.
Those were unfortunately lost in the flood before I had a chance to list them. But apparently they can get some good money on eBay. Steph is a big fan of Rupaul’s Drag Race and she explained that cross dressers will wear them a lot.Cool sales again, Steven! That lamp was awesome and I can understand why you would want to sell it locally. I got a vintage one similar to that recently and it doesn’t look like it comes apart like the newer ones made these days. Maybe I’ll try and sell it locally too.
I bought this Black and Decker coffee bean burr grinder at a thrift store for $3. I didn’t do enough research with the solds before buying it though. They don’t sell for much more than i paid for it. And mine had some issues with the outer case coming off. So I took it apart and listed some of the pieces. This Reservoir part sold for about what I would have gotten for the whole thing… $13.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303015601595This antique Bulldog binder clip came out of a box lot that I bought a long time ago. I paid $37.50 for the lot (each sellable item came to $3.13). It’s been listed for over a year, but it finally found the right buyer. Sold for full price of $20.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302748486836Here’s my big sale of the week. The previous week I sold a pair of Katadyn pocket water filters for a best offer of $300. This week I sold a replacement filter for them for full price of $150. That was an exceptional buy at a crazy awesome auction last summer. The box lot that these came in cost me $15. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more of this type of stuff.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302924534902This sale was kind of different. I acquired these hand made wooden elfs from an auction a couple of years ago. I paid $11 for them. I’ve had them listed for as long as I’ve had them, but I’ve got to use them twice to decorate my home for Christmas while they were listed. I finally took a best offer of $55 since it was after Xmas and I didn’t want to store them away again.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302836525328Here’s why it pays to be patient. This Knickerbocker stuffed animal came from a thrift shop two years ago for $2. I wouldn’t have bought it normally, but it had a BF Goodrich logo sewn on its clothing. Others were sold on eBay without the logo for $10-15. But I know a little logo can sometimes make the price go up. So I went crazy and listed it for $50. It took a long while and several low BOs, but it finally sold for full price!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302836535744I’ve been buying my packing supplies from an ebay store called theboxery. I did a quick comparison and their prices are generally cheaper than even Staples. Plus their shipping is free. Also, the best price I’ve found for small bubble bubble wrap is Sam’s club. Their 240 ft roll is only $13. Of course you’ve got to factor in the cost of the membership, but the price I pay there for paper products and meat alone pays for that.
Jan 6 – 12
Total Items in Store: 2010
Items Sold: 41
Total Sales : $1169
* above yearly average of $906
* below 2017 total week sales of $1267
Highest Price: $150 (Katadyn Microfilter Pocket Replacement Filter)
Average Price: $29
Returns: 0
Cost of Goods Sold: $68
Costs of Goods Purchased this Week: $150
Number of New Items Listed this Week: 23I had a decent week as well. Any week where I’m above my yearly average is great. Although I didn’t get as much listing done as I would have liked. I spend my whole evenings packing and barely have enough time to photograph and list. But I can’t complain too much yet; I’m making a lot of sales!
We went to an auction on Saturday that we thought was going to be a bust, but were pleasantly surprised to find a lot of good stuff. My scavenge of the week was a large original colored woodcut print by the artist Irving Amen. Signed and numbered. I couldn’t find this exact print even on Google, but other smaller ones were being sold in the $200 range. I got it for $3. I also bought a box lot of tobacco pipes with some other misc stuff, and inside one of the boxes was a gift card from Lowes. I called the number on the back and verified that it had $25 on it! WOOT!
This week I’m going to try and focus on listing, even if it kills me. I hate that my inventory number keeps dropping below 2000. I’m proud of that number and it hurts when it gets lower than that.
1) Increase my number of active listings to 2000.
I succeeded in this, but only by a sliver. I ended the year with 2002 active listings. It was tough though. Throughout the year, I thought I could have met that goal easily before December. But then 4th quarter hit and I was selling more than I was listing. Luckily I had some time off for Christmas break and really worked hard to meet my goal. This year, I am setting my goal for 3K active listings by the end of the year.
2) Increase my total net profit before tax to $40K
This one I didn’t succeed, but I think I was too ambitious when I made that goal. Maybe I saw how much my profit increased from the previous year and thought they would continue to increase exponentially. I’ve since learned that things don’t necessarily work that way. I finished out the year with a little over $32K profit before tax, which is still a major achievement in my eyes. I think I’ll try again with that $40K number this year.
01/11/2019 at 9:53 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Models, Doc Martens, Books, Akai Tape Deck, Lane Black Panther TV Lamp #54922That tape deck is awesome! So am I right that the cassette tape physically spins around inside the deck to play the other side? That sounds way more complicated than it needs to be, but I love it. I made some interesting sales last week.
My top sale of the week goes to this pair of Katadyn Pocket Water Filters. These are apparently a top of the line brand for this type of thing. When I spotted these in a box lot, I vaguely recalled some knowledge I had many years ago when I was more into camping about how expensive these things were. But I had no idea just how much someone would pay for them. I got them for $2.50 each and sold the pair for $300.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302924526841When I first began selling on eBay, I steered clear of plastic stuff because I saw it all as cheap crap. But after time I’ve learned that isn’t always the case. Here’s an example of an all plastic bathroom soap holder. It caught my eye because of the color and because it was made in USA. I listed and sold it on the same day for $15. It only cost me .50 cents.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303012914842One of the most rewarding aspects of this business (to me anyway) is learning about what old stuff is. I feel like I’m keeping the knowledge alive. Some of you might instantly recognize what this item is, but I honestly had no clue. It’s a stove top toaster. You set it on your stove burner to make up to four pieces of toast. And apparently they’re kind of sought after. I had several watchers on it within a few days. Mine was in really rough shape so it only sold for $15, but I’ve seen others sell for more. It only cost me $1 out of a box lot.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303004717157I purchased an old battery operated handheld radio at an auction for $8. I didn’t know it at the time, but it didn’t take conventional batteries. Inside was this 67 ½ volt ‘B’ radio battery. I recalled that someone on the forums mentioned that people buy and collect vintage batteries, so I listed it by itself. It didn’t take more than a few days to sell for $15. Now we’ll see if the actual radio sells since you can’t really obtain those batteries anymore that I know of.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/30301894550401/07/2019 at 8:44 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 393: Happy New Year and Returns Happen #54738Brian, that was my rational when I settled for a 25 year mortgage. I figure I could lean back on the lower mortgage payments for the first year or so while we’re still “house poor” and then start kicking up a few notches when I’m back on my feet.
01/07/2019 at 8:29 pm in reply to: The auction from !@$#$!&* (Ryanne would have hated this one!) #54736There’s a local auctioneer here that does that whole X times the money auction style. And I agree its super annoying. He’ll do it to whole boxes of lots. For example, there will be a box of crappy yarn, a box of old paperbacks and a box of something that I’m actually interested in. He’ll group them all together and say 3 times the money and you have to pay whatever the winning bid is times 3. Needless to say, I’ve stopped going to his auctions.
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