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Occasionally, I run an eBay search for “vintage” and then sort it geographically, nearest first. I then follow vintage sellers within a 10-mile radius. Every once in a while (maybe once a week) I look to see if anyone’s listed anything I saw at a shop or sale but didn’t buy, and then I see if it sells & for how much. Learning without risk (or, you could argue, without financial reward.)
Also, I follow a few sellers from Scavenger Life.
Finally, I follow a few people who I believe to be selling art forgeries. The wording on their listings puts them within eBay’s requirements but the art, in my opinion, is improperly attributed. I check in on them every few weeks to see what they’ve listed. This is just of personal interest to me.
It sounds like your family members have misplaced good intentions. Could you print out a list of brands you’re actually looking for, give it to them, and put those good intentions to work for you? If not, I’d just politely decline to purchase the items but maybe offer to help set the family members up with their own eBay stores. When they see what’s involved, they might ‘get it’ a little more.
As for the husband issue, I’m not sure what to tell you. For the most part my husband is supportive, but at the same time if I had a ‘real job’ we’d probably have more money and better health insurance, so that’s sort of looming over all the conversations. And, self-employed or no, I’m a slovenly housekeeper. That’s a whole other problem. 🙂
For me, with a super-small shop (+/- 250 items) and organizational/time management issues/ADHD, I think a $20 minimum is about right, and I’d like to make a lot more per item whenever possible. For me, the ideal $20 profit item is something I paid less than $1 for or found for free, or something that just inherently interests me but isn’t super-valuable. I have friends, though, who make a great living selling anything and everything they can double their money on (even if it’s $4.) I can’t argue with their results, but I can’t replicate them either — I don’t have the time, the space, or the attention span.
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This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by
Habnab. Reason: forgot a parenthesis
What’s the waist measurement, unstretched? That number should give you some sense of whether it’s a men’s or women’s large.
05/23/2017 at 8:36 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 311: The Summer Slowdown™ is Here #18423Thanks, Jay! I didn’t know.
Kate
05/23/2017 at 8:17 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 311: The Summer Slowdown™ is Here #18416@spinachetr, Hi John. The cards are 9 of the 12 from Gisbert Combaz’s “Element” series. I don’t have an imgur account, but here’s a link to a blog post that shows several of the cards.
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2015/12/14/the-elements-by-gisbert-combaz/
I have a ton of other cards from the box lot, but these were really the ones that caught my eye as interesting. I don’t know much about cards, and had never seen these before, but they made my spidey sense tingle.
I have some of the other cards listed but they’re barely getting any peeks. I have some of the Tuck’s Kings/Queens of England, some cards from the Paris Exposition, and some St. John cards of women dressed in national costume (or as representations of different countries; I can’t remember exactly right now.) There are other cards in the box as well. All the cards have heavy mucilage staining on the backs but pretty decent fronts.
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This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by
Habnab.
05/23/2017 at 8:13 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 311: The Summer Slowdown™ is Here #18415Linda, I’m only familiar with the pieces that I’ve found; I can tell you that some of my necklaces are discs on gold chains with large lobster-claw clasps, but I think Google will be your go-to for the right answer! Also, the signatures can be hard to find. Kate
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This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by
Habnab.
Hi, Jamie.
The artist’s name is Fred Ochi (1913-2007.) Here is a link to his obit, which is a comprehensive biography. http://www.woodfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/WoodFu2/obit.cgi?user=990_FOchi2879
Here’s another article about him. https://www.facebook.com/IdahoFallsGov/posts/10155732072335109 He was known as “the red barn artist,” so your piece is right on point.
As far as sales, I find one watercolor painting which sold for $26 (completely unlike yours), one that sold for $150 and another which sold for $101. There are at least four sales results on Worthpoint – I don’t have access to those prices. I see that there are also prints, so clarify if yours is an original or a print.
Lastly, here’s a picture of his gravestone, which is totally amazing. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=78598930
05/22/2017 at 1:44 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 311: The Summer Slowdown™ is Here #18349Week of May 14-20
* Total Items in Store: +/- 250
* Items Sold: 23
* Cost of Items Sold: $117
* Total Sales: 1127.32
* Highest Price Sold: $166 bracelet lot
* Average Price Sold: $49.00
* Returns: $100 (photo glass breakage)A super-great week thanks to that jewelry haul mentioned elsewhere. Of my 23 items sold, 20 were Sobral pieces. I’ve still got a bit left. I’d love to find more, because my shop would have been DOA without it! In other news, I picked up a small box of postcards at a local auction for $25 (I put them up early and paid the ‘penalty,’ but I didn’t want to stick around all day waiting for the table to come up.) — I was after some interesting looking cards from the turn of the (last) century. I forwarded photos of the cards to a NYC auction house for review, and they’re interested in putting them in an upcoming auction (estimate $700-1000.) I’m debating it — I’m a bit wary of auctions after some friends had a super-bad experience with a famous house.
Going to listen to the podcast now!
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This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by
Habnab.
If you right-click on it you can open the image in a new tab.
I see that RN being used by a brand called K.A.D., but the other label isn’t the same.
I think you should take advantage of all the space we’re given in the listing title section. So, just for example, you’ve got a pair of red shoes listed with the title “Isaac Pumps Heels Red Italy Size 8.5 B” — looking at the photo, I feel like you could add descriptors to that title — “pointy toe” or “topstitching” or “bow” — or however many more words will fit. Writing titles is like knotting a fishing net — the more words you get in there, the more likely you are to catch a buyer.
05/19/2017 at 10:42 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 310: Am I Selling on eBay the Wrong Way? #18247We’ve got steam heat, and now I desperately want one of these for each room in the house!!!
05/19/2017 at 10:32 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 310: Am I Selling on eBay the Wrong Way? #18246Beverly, all of the pieces I’ve found have been marked, although some of the rings I bought the other day have a sticker and I haven’t looked under the sticker to see if there’s also an imprinted mark. I don’t know if the pieces are always marked or not, but the buyers of these items seem really obsessed with the brand (in a good way) and would probably let sellers offering non-Sobral pieces know if their items were not legit. 🙂
Linda, the Sobral pieces photographed on a wood tabletop with a black background are mine. Scroll through my photos to see the mark (sometimes photographed better than other times.)
05/17/2017 at 1:59 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 310: Am I Selling on eBay the Wrong Way? #18154Sue, if you open up one of my Sobral listings you’ll see where I photographed the mark, as well, if you need confirmation on a suspected piece.
I went back to the Goodwill this morning to see if there was any left — I picked up three pairs of earrings I’d left behind as well as about 12 or 15 rings I hadn’t seen the last time. I think I got everything today.
05/17/2017 at 9:14 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 310: Am I Selling on eBay the Wrong Way? #18138I’m also not a fan of the word “hustle,” partially because for me it has shades of grifting, and partially because I’m not someone who personally has any “hustle” in the energy/outlook department, so it’s just a bad fit. It doesn’t describe what I’m doing or what I’m about in any way.
I spent a lot of last week volunteering at a massive charity rummage sale (worked 3 days pre-sale, one day of sale) — I’m not sure it made sense from a business point of view this year, but it definitely could (workers get first dibs on items, but pay 125% of marked price) if the right items came in. It was a ton of fun and I’ll do it next year regardless.
On my way home from working the sale this past Saturday, I stopped in at a nearby Goodwill (I almost never go there; prices are higher than I want to pay and I don’t often find anything good) and stumbled on what’s turning out to be a great score. My eye was caught by a bracelet I’d sold before, and as I went over to scoop it up I realized that 50% of that jewelry display was made up of that particular brand of jewelry, unused/unworn/new-old-stock. I rarely go “all in,” but I picked up every piece of it — 62 pieces for about $280, or about $4.50 a piece. I was really sweating, but once I started listing, the pieces were flying out of the store. So far, since Saturday, I’ve grossed $1016 on the lot, and still have quite a bit left. The brand is Sobral, and they’re resin pieces, often with stripes or inclusions. It’s very eye-catching and immediately recognizable. So, this is my trifecta of cheap, high dollar, and quick selling. I’m normally a bitterly long-tail seller so this is super exciting.
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