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12/24/2017 at 6:22 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 340: We Reconnect with Cyndi from Amazing Taste #29358
Dec. 17-23
Total Items in Store: 1056
Items Sold: 33
Total Sales (Gross Profit): $1262
Highest Price: $105 (Large Blue Wheel Thrown Stoneware Pottery Art Vase by Rick Morgan “Waterfall”)
Average Price: $38
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $80
Costs of Items Purchased this Week: $111What a great interview with Cyndi! It was quite informative and I really enjoyed it.
I had an amazing week of sales! The faucet just kicked on full power and my phone just kept cha-chinging all throughout the week! I’ll have to check my history, but I think this is a record. Both in gross income and total items sold. It really helped that I hunkered down and listed like crazy. I had bought a whole bunch of watch and clock repair parts at an auction last summer and those things can be very pricy! I just wish I knew then what I know now because I would have gone all in and bought everything. But now I have the knowledge and like it was mentioned in the interview, it’s like giving myself a raise.
I wanted to share a successful experiment that I tried last week. Several podcasts ago, it was mentioned about people who sell currency with unique serial numbers. Well that intrigued my curiosity, so I did some research and looked through all my bills until I found a $20 with an interesting serial. It was a star note, started with a couple zeros and had a repeating 42. So I thought I’d try listing it for a couple months. If it didn’t sell, I wasn’t out anything. Well it only took a couple weeks and it sold for $40. Doubled my money (well before shipping and fees anyways). After the sale I was worried about the buyer being a scammer, but there was no problems at all and he gave me great feedback. Here’s the listing if anyone wanted to see.
$20 Star NoteI hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
12/22/2017 at 5:15 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Guitar, Toque, Knight radio, Sorel Boots, VCR/DVD combo, Curly tie, 8 Track Recorder, Boombox #29276Your cat gave me a real chuckle, Steve! Makes me wish I had the room for a pet. I had a pretty decent week of sales last week. Here are my highlights…
This small handmade hanging Christmas quilt came in a box lot of various fabric items that I bought for $10. It’s one of those things that I would have just thrown in the yard sale pile had I not looked it up. I listed it for $40 and it only took over a week to sell. The lady was so happy when she received it. Said it was just what she was looking for.
Hanging Christmas QuiltHere’s a fun little item that I found in a box lot. I paid $60 for the lot because there was an old oyster tin that was worth a bit of money. I’d since made my money back and more, so everything else in the box is just icing on the cake. This little toy man broom had no makers mark and I couldn’t find anything about him, so I listed him at $15. It took maybe a year but he finally sold.
Wooden Toy BroomI always keep my eye out for these Texas Ware confetti mixing bowls. This is the second one to sell for $40. Both times it didn’t take more than a couple weeks. There are some colors more rare than others too. Check out some of the sold prices if you want to do some more research.
Texas Ware Confetti Mixing BowlHere’s my big sale of the week. I picked this WW2 embroidered reversible sukajan souvenir jacket up at an auction for $30 because of someone on this forum who sold one before. It was pretty beat up, though. It looked like there were moth holes and several stains. I gave it a wild shot and put it up for $300. I got plenty of watchers but no offers. Finally after I think a couple months, I settled for $185 from a guy who collects these. I may have left money on the table, but I figured because of the condition it was in that that might have been the best I could do. And yes, the last picture is me… it’s a small jacket, ok?
Japanese WW2 Souvenir JacketWeird, I wasn’t able to log on to the forums for a minute. It kept saying I was tagged as a spammer. But then it started working again. So if you get a message from me asking for help, just ignore it I guess.
Dec. 10-16
Total Items in Store: 1018
Items Sold: 19
Total Sales (Gross Profit): $648
Highest Price: $185 (Vintage Japan Embroidered Dragon Tiger Tour Reversible Sukajan Souvenir Jacket)
Average Price: $34
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $96
Costs of Items Purchased this Week: $0Pretty decent week for me. A little better than average. Though it just feel slow for some reason. I got the feeling that I did far better last December than I did this year, so I pulled up the data in GoDaddy and I must have just misremembered it. I’m making more sales now than I did a year ago. It’s just one of those ways that your memory plays tricks on you until you see the actual data.
I’ve hit a major milestone this week. Over 1K items in my inventory! Woot! I was wondering if I was going to make it before the new year. Also, I finally caught up on my backlog to the day of the flood when most of my inventory was destroyed. Everything that was salvaged is now listed and I don’t have to look at all the items that I labeled as destroyed on my spreadsheet anymore. It’s just another way that I can put that awful event behind me.
No scavenging last week as I’ve been focusing a LOT of my time listing and preparing for Christmas. I hope you both enjoy your trip to NYC! I can’t wait to see all the things you scavenge!
12/14/2017 at 10:49 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Ham radios, Tiki S&P, Betty Cookbook, JBL speakers, Vintage games, 16mm news reel, Pipe stand, 1946 calendar #28824Ha! I’ll remember that the next time I get them in a table lot. Would she have listed them individually? It may have made more sense to do so but I just have less than zero interest in them.
12/14/2017 at 11:42 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Ham radios, Tiki S&P, Betty Cookbook, JBL speakers, Vintage games, 16mm news reel, Pipe stand, 1946 calendar #28779I’ve sold a couple of those Betty Crocker cookbooks myself. I always pick them up when I see them. Awesome job on packing those speakers too. I have a pair up for sale but I’m too afraid to ship them. I have them listed as LPU unless the buyer really wants to make it worth my while to ship.
Here’s a large item that I was glad to get out of storage. It’s a five-drawer metal machinist storage box. It actually sold rather quickly along with a wood one I sold the week prior. I paid up a little for this at $22.50, but I knew they’re desirable. It sold for a best offer of $70.
Metal Machinist Drawer Storage BoxSo last year, I told myself that I would never sell loose vintage glass Christmas ornaments ever again. They are just the absolute worst to pack. Well I just happen to have these fall in my lap a few months ago and I decided to give it another go. Since the quality of these just weren’t great, I decided to put them up on auction and let the buyers decide how much they were worth. Well I guess they were worth about $57. Since I got them in a lot, I only paid about .50 cents for all. And they still suck to pack, but I assume they got to their destination all in one piece or else I would have heard about it by now.
Old Mercury Glass Christmas OrnamentsHere’s my high sale of the week. I put this Arai motorcycle helmet up about a month ago and kept getting over half-off offers. Well I paid $20 for the thing (thinking it was worth more than it really was) so I wanted to make a decent profit. Finally, a guy in China bought it for full price of $95. He sent me a really nice message thanking me for shipping to China.
Arai Motorcycle HelmetLast spring, I bought a plastic baggie full of old patches at a yardsale for $5. They were mostly Boy Scout patches, but then there was this odd trucking patch. I’ve never heard of P.I.E. before. Maybe they’re just not prevalent in my area. But it sold for $15.
P.I.E. Trucking Patch12/11/2017 at 10:43 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 338: Rich Scavenger, Poor Scavenger #28582Dec. 3 – 9
Total Items in Store: 940
Items Sold: 13
Total Sales (Gross Profit): $505
Highest Price: $95 (Arai Signet/e Red and White Motorcycle Helmet)
Average Price: $39
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $87
Costs of Items Purchased this Week: $215This can be such a funny business. The week before last was one of my best weeks ever. This last week felt like the water faucet was turned off. It seemed to me that I wasn’t making any sales at all. It felt really dreary, perhaps because I was sick all last week. But after doing my numbers just now, I can’t believe I made over $500. I thought for sure I didn’t even make half of that. Still lower than I would like, but it brightened my morning nevertheless.
You’ve inspired me to make a bit of a gamble on Saturday. I went to an auction a ways away that had in their pictures a vintage aluminum Christmas tree. I knew that they could be highly sought after and can be worth quite a bit. So, to make a long story short, I got it for a little over $200. Way more than I wanted to spend, but it was in very nice condition with the original box and even came with a motorized musical rotating base. I brought it home and put everything on hold while I assembled it, tested everything and took pictures. I listed it for close to $1K with best offer. I might have gone a little crazy with the price, but the way I see it there’s no dire need to sell it quickly and I can just sit on it until someone decides to drop some cash. At the very least, I’m confident that I can make my money back easily enough. Here’s the listing if anyone wanted to check it out… Vintage Aluminum Christmas Tree
12/07/2017 at 1:42 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Playing cards, Diecast banks, Log basket, Cosco stool, Photo album, Crib mobile, TV lamp #28335Sharyn, I just learned about blue Delphite a few weeks ago at an auction, and now I’m seeing it everywhere. Well not literally “right in front of me” everywhere, but it’s definitely been mentioned by several people since then. Pretty cool stuff. The pieces at this auction were going for hundreds each!
12/07/2017 at 1:38 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Playing cards, Diecast banks, Log basket, Cosco stool, Photo album, Crib mobile, TV lamp #28334Cool sales like always, Steve! I made a ton of sales myself last week. Here’s a few highlights…
I’ve taken a page out of your book and started selling parts off of audio equipment. This is a simple tone arm rest from a Technics SL-BD20 turntable. After I disassembled all of the important parts, I looked over the body to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I saw this piece and wondered if it was detachable. Sure enough, it came off with a simple unlocking twist. The turntable as a whole would have only brought me around $30 or $40 total. This piece I sold for $10 by itself. So far, I’ve sold $40 total from just 3 parts and I have a lot more to sell.
Technics Turntable Tonearm RestI picked these vintage Willson safety glasses out of a box lot. These individually only came to about $3. I didn’t think they’d be worth a whole lot, but I went against my instinct and priced them high. Sure enough, a couple weeks later I got a best offer of $50. Not bad at all!
Willson Safety GlassesTis the season to sell vintage Christmas stuff. I acquired these Christmas tree motorized color wheels from an estate sale in town. There were up in this dirty attic where it was a million degrees. That’s probably why the plastic film was all messed up. I noted this and they sold overnight anyways for $45. I only paid $3 for them.
Vintage Motorized Christmas Color WheelsI wanted to mention this sale because it was peculiar. I had this wool floor runner listed for a couple months with not much interest. Then out of the blue, I get a best offer for $40. I wanted to do a little better so I countered at $50. The next thing I know, the buyer bought the rug at full price of $60. I don’t know what happened, but they paid and everything. So far there’s been no complaints. Makes me wonder if they even knew what they were doing.
Wool Floor Runner12/05/2017 at 11:15 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 337: If You Build It, You Will Have Storage #28179I did a search for bear mount and saw that they can bring in some really good money. Here’s one that sold for over $400 for just the head.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/BEAR-HEAD-MOUNT-/222679155811?hash=item33d8b64463%3Ag%3AmksAAOSw-EJZ44E5&nma=true&si=0OYDIVFOavdSSyerBJ6QBx8KhQA%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557I’ll need to do some research to make sure there aren’t any laws about selling this sort of thing. One listing said they wouldn’t ship to California.
12/05/2017 at 10:59 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 337: If You Build It, You Will Have Storage #2817612/05/2017 at 10:53 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 337: If You Build It, You Will Have Storage #28173Nov. 26 – Dec. 2
Total Items in Store: 928
Items Sold: 32
Total Sales (Gross Profit): $1003
Highest Price: $90 (Antique Six Drawer Wood Machinist Storage Cabinet Tool Box)
Average Price: $31
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $119
Costs of Items Purchased this Week: $60Great week on eBay! My sales doubled from the prior week. Mostly bread and butter items, but it seemed that my phone just wouldn’t stop cha-chinging.
I love the new storage building! It’s been my dream for the past year to have a massive storage building like that. We’ve almost reached our max capacity in this old house.
I want to mention about my scavenge of the week. I was perusing LetGo on my lunch break when I saw a new listing for a taxidermied bear. This guy listed it as free. I thought it was a mistake, so I messaged him and sure enough he just wanted it out of his house. After work, I drove to his place and sure enough there was a stuffed bear waiting for me. He said he shot it in Maine in 2009. It was just a little bear, probably the size of a really large dog. It should be interesting to ship once she sells.
12/01/2017 at 1:17 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Pantry boxes, leather planner cover, Krispy Kreme mugs, Dope, needle point, typewriter #27837That Badlands cap reminded me of my visit several years ago. It was probably the most interesting and beautiful place I’ve ever been to. I’l love to go back! I made fewer sales last week than normal. I blame it on the holiday. But here are some highlights…
In a box of hardware I bought at an auction was this bag full of these drawer pull backplates. The previous owner must have just been a collector of misc hardware parts. I wasn’t sure if there was a market for these but I listed them all anyway. I only have a few cents into each listing. These were the first to sell for $20.
Brass Drawer Pull BackplatesThis sale was a surprise. These are a vintage pair of swimming trunks made by JCPenny’s. I never expected to sell them at this time of year. I bought a vintage gym bag at an auction a while ago and inside there were eight pairs of old swimming trunks all neatly folded and clean. I almost threw them away because who wants someone’s old nasty used swimming trunks? I’m glad I at least looked them up, there’s a market! I won’t get rich off of them, but I’ve made almost $100 on the ones I’ve sold already. This pair sold for $30 to someone in California.
Vintage Swimming TrunksAt a yard sale last summer, I happened upon an entire Technics stereo system for $25. It wasn’t super vintage – probably early ‘90s – but I couldn’t let that deal go! It included the amp, the tape player, record player, cd player, tuner, and these awesome speakers. All was inside this wood cabinet. Well I managed to get everything home and after inventorying all of the components, I didn’t know what to do with the cabinet. It was way too big to ship. So I took a couple parts off of it that I thought someone might need to replace. I’m glad I did! This lift top piece sold for $30. Paid for everything in one sale. Lol! The guy messaged me after he received it and was so happy to find the rare hinges that came with it and that’s all he really wanted. I would have taken them off for him instead of shipping the whole things if he’d asked. Oh well.
Audio Cabinet PartHere’s my sale of the week. I got this Brown & Sharpe Micrometer set at an auction for only $5. I thought I would have had to put up more of a fight but I guess nobody knew what they were looking at. I cleaned it up and priced it high for $130. After a few weeks, I took a best offer of $115. I’ve noticed that these things are priced all over the map. Some I have only go for 8 or 10 bucks. I think it’s all about the brand.
Brown & Sharpe MicrometerI’ve got a Rural King near me too and yes, the popcorn is a great incentive to stop in. We buy our 40 lb bag of pine chips for our pet hedgehog there. So much cheaper than the small bags you get at the pet store. And weirdly enough, ours has a ridiculous soda selection. Like individual glass bottles of pop I’ve never even seen before.
SalarySlave, I respect your opinion. But I feel I have to rebut. Your example is misleading and is missing a key factor: who has possession of the item and therefore who has the upper hand. In your argument, you’re describing a demand in refund after the transaction is complete. Money was exchanged and the goods were received. In that example, it would be absurd for the seller to demand a return. In J & R’s case, the money was received but the item hadn’t been sent therefore the transaction was still open in my eyes. eBay sort of changed the rules of business in a sense. With the payment method being almost entirely automated, sellers usually no longer have any interaction with buyers prior to sales. And we’re no longer held to the same standards of a person to person interaction.
I think the ground you’re trying to stand on is one of ethics. But ethics is not black or white. Were there some ethical gray area that Jay and Ryanne wondered into? Perhaps. They may even agree. But one could also say it was slightly unethical for the buyer to have tried to take advantage of an unusual low price of a high dollar item. He or she could have sent a message stating that they priced that item way too low. It was obvious he/she knew what it was worth when they offered to pay $600. But he/she didn’t. They tried to take advantage of a situation and it didn’t work the way they wanted it to. Sucks for them, but he/she didn’t lose anything either. You can feel sorry all you want for the person, but if I were in J&R’s shoes, I wouldn’t have thought twice about the decision they made. You said that you might have done the same thing as well, so I know you at least understand what was at stake. On one hand, you could let someone take advantage of you for monetary gain. Or on the other hand you could stop them and take the money for yourself. It’s not as black and white as that for sure, but maybe think of it as this… which was the lesser of two evils?
And blackmail? No way. I will block every person who leaves me negative feedback. That’s a fact. Why? Simply for passive aggressive reasons I’m sure, but that doesn’t matter. My point is, the buyer made a threat and Jay & Ryanne shot back a warning which was more than fair in my opinion. Shouldn’t you argue that the buyer was also initiating blackmail with the threat of negative feedback?
Nov. 19 – 25
Total Items in Store: 928
Items Sold: 16
Total Sales (Gross Profit): $415
Highest Price: $115 (Brown & Sharpe Micrometer Model 55 2″-6″ Set)
Average Price: $26
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $32
Costs of Items Purchased this Week: $341Business really dropped off for me at the beginning of last week. I only sold three items up until Thanksgiving day. Then it was like the floodgate of sales opened up. But that’s not been unusual in my experience. It’s always dead right before a major holiday, but sales resume just like normal right afterwards.
We had a nice time off from work and went to a huge auction about 1.5 hours away from us. I ended up buying lots of glassware…one of the things I dread selling. But there wasn’t really much else to buy at this one. But my score of the week came that same day when I bought a box lot of almost 200 glass plate negatives from around 1910. I spent more than I anticipated – $155. But I think I’ll make my money back pretty easily enough judging by my sold item research.
In regards to your denim jacket sale, I truly believe you made the right call and it’s what I would have done. If I sold an item and I found that I underpriced it by $40 or $50, then yeah I would just consider it a lesson learned and forget it. But as in your case where it was over a grand, I would have lost some major sleep! From a business point of view, we’re in it to make money and I’m sure that customer would understand despite their anger for not getting a steal. Even a corporation like Walmart wouldn’t sell a 72” HD flat screen TV to a customer for $50 if there was a mistake with the price tag.
By the way, if you’re looking for more wool socks, I’ve had pretty good luck at TJMaxx and Marshalls. They’re usually “seconds,” but I’ve never had any issues with them. And I’ve found them for over half off the retail price, sometimes only $4 or $5 a pair. I usually don’t focus on name brand, but instead look at the wool percentages written on the package. I steer clear of anything less than 75% wool, but that’s just personal preference and depends on what you want to use the socks for. I’ve found SmartWool, Darn Tough, and Cabot and Sons for way cheap.
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