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02/12/2019 at 9:06 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56833
Too funny! The auction house I bought it from is the only one licensed to sell firearms in NJ, but they don’t say anything about alcohol. I’ve seen them sell alcohol before, and I’ve seen it sold at estate sales as well. I think that they are probably bending the rules.
Someone recently mentioned a YouTube channel by Curiosity Inc, which is created by a Canadian guy who owns an antique store. He recently bought a hoarder house, and he is recording the work he does to remove all the junk and the hidden treasures he finds. As he is going through all the stuff, he occasionally finds a bottle of alcohol, and he put together a video of him and several people taste testing five of the bottles.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
Sharyn.
02/11/2019 at 11:01 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 398: How To Buy or Not To Buy on eBay #56729Week of Feb 3 – 9
* Total Items in Store: 1315 eBay, 3 Mercari
* Items Sold: 14 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $4.10 + $20 Commission
* Total Sales: $414.01
* Highest Price Sold: $55 Lot of 12 PC Games (on commission); $50 for 2 boxes Armstrong commercial tiles
* Average Price Sold: $29.57
* Returns: 1
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $46
* Number of items listed this week: 4Things to do list: Researched two death pile items that ended up in the donation pile; repaired a misaligned framed art piece
Weird week where I sold 3 – 4 items per day at the beginning, but had two zero sales days later. I didn’t list much, so I’m sure that had something to do with it.
I did purchase a number of things at an auction on Friday even though the prices were sort of high. When I started packing my car up, I noticed that a vintage decanter was still full of Jim Bean whiskey. Although I’m not a big whiskey fan, it’s still good. My husband and I will have to finish it before I can sell the decanter. Reminds me of road burgers …
I only had four new listings last week. Listings are low due to both eBay and non-eBay related activities.
I did go to an auction on Friday, so my listing numbers will be better this week.
I was just going through a few box lots I bought Friday at an auction and making a box of stuff for donation. Before putting a porcelain salt cellar in the box, I turned it over. Pillivuyt! I found one sold recently for $10, which is enough for me to list.
What a timely post! Thanks!
Hum, if it persists, I suggest you call PayPal.
From what I understand, third party listing software programs, like Six Bit or Wonderlister, save all your listings for you. Ink Frog is a more basic one. At this point in my very small business, I just can’t justify the cost, but this is a great feature. There are certain items that I pick up every once in a while, and I have to start the listing from scratch.
I did set up Amazon Photos on my computer. My dad has a Prime account, and he lets me use it. If I’m looking for an item I photographed in the past, it does have some basic search capabilities. I can search through both the photos on my hard drive and the photos in the cloud. I set up my phone to save all my photos in the cloud last year.
I save links to websites that I use for research. When someone on the forum posts a link, I’ll save it in case I need it later.
Other than that, I don’t have the time (I’m too lazy) to save the information in some systematic way. Love the Pinterest method!
I just checked PayPal, and I don’t see any issues. You buy your labels right off eBay, correct?
02/07/2019 at 3:34 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 #56592Doubly – your link for the scrapbook is the same for the cooler above it.
I think you were able to get so much money for the slides from Reno because they are rare to come by. They show just the street and the stores. Photos of people can be interesting to show fashions, but I would say those are less valuable.
I subscribe to a Facebook group that talks about the local town I live in, and the members often post old photos. People who have lived in the town for a very long time, or those that grew up here and have moved away, will talk about the photo, what has changed, what hasn’t, etc. One guy recently posted saying that people never thought just to take photos of a street, a store, their car, etc. Usually, it was photos of friends and family. When you had slides or printed photos, you didn’t want to waste film on stuff that you saw every day. But, now, people want to see the old stores and what they looked like, or the parking lot with cars we now consider classic, old historic homes, and so on.
I see slides at auctions all the time. I think about how much work it would be to sort through them. I have posted some that came with other items in a box lot, but I haven’t wanted to buy a large number because of the time it would take to sort and then research what’s in them.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
Sharyn.
02/07/2019 at 3:31 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 #56589Yeh, I got these typewriters for free, so hard to pass them up. In general, I just enjoy tinkering with typewriters, both manual and electric, but not so much to fix them. And my kids get a kick out of “old technology”. These office ones are very large and very heavy. I’d consider getting them again, but only for very little investment.
02/07/2019 at 10:45 am 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 #56549Steve – You’re the laziest eBay seller? Ha! Believe me, you have competition!
I purchased a vacuum cleaner for $5 two or three years ago. It was working just fine, but then the belt kept breaking, and I decided to part it out. Seems to be the theme on SL the last week or so. The canister sold pretty quickly for $22.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183654450803I originally had this plaque in a heavy frame, but a guy from Alaska only wanted the plaque. He has a collection of very old religious items, and he was making a box to store them. He already had one box with a similar plaque (he sent me a photo of it). He wanted to save on shipping, so I sold him only the plaque and the mounting board. Purchased for $1, sold for $30.50.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183386851576This metronome was free at an auction. Someone bought a box lot, but only wanted a few items. It provides a variable beat for practicing a musical instrument (I assume). It was made in the US, but it is now headed for Germany. Sold for $29.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182874561581I purchased the contents of a shelving unit in an online auction. I was surprised at the value of this BMW 5 Series service manual. Paid $0.25, sold for $50.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183287823238I purchased a set of Gorham crystal in an online auction, 15 water glasses and 15 wine glasses. I am selling both in sets of three. The first to sell is a set of three water glasses for $42. I paid about $22 for all of them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183628216513Over the summer, a friend was helping to clear out the contents of an office building. Her group was moving in, but the previous occupants moved to a new building with new furniture. I got a number of things for my house, but I also took five vintage office electric typewriters. I finally got to testing them a few weeks ago. They all partially work, but will need maintenance or repair to work as originally intended. I didn’t have boxes big enough, so I listed them as local pickup. Two sold to not local people. I did find one box, but wasn’t able to work it out with the first buyer. I canceled that purchase and relisted it with shipping. The second guy, though, chose to ship it via UPS. I sold it for $60, but his cost to pack and ship was a bit under $75.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183653501095This cute gin bottle lamp had a damaged shade, but I was able to sell it for $41.60. I paid $0.75 in an auction lot. I did replace the wiring, which cost $3-$4.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183558622095-
This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
Sharyn.
Just an update on my issues:
I did cancel one typewriter and relist it with shipping. The original buyer did not repurchase it.
I was able to get in touch with the other buyer through email. I told him that he could cancel the purchase or set up shipping with his company of choice. I ended up doing the leg work for him, but I drove the typewriter to the UPS store, and he paid more for shipping and packing than for the item itself.
I did get the pants back and refunded the buyer. He now has the correct pants, and I haven’t heard from him. Hopefully, this is the end of that.
I submitted the info for the case that a buyer opened in PayPal. Hopefully, it closes without any issues.
I forgot to put that I spent $5.75 for new inventory. Auctions at the beginning of the year are always really pricey, so I didn’t spend much. My second one will be this Friday. Right now, I’m working on my death piles.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
Sharyn.
I know that eBay bought Terapeak last year, but I wasn’t aware of this option. They haven’t advertised it at all. I think it is new.
The Goodwill outlets (also called the Bins) are located all over the country. In NJ, I’ve been to the one closest to me in Bellmawr, which, unfortunately, is an hour drive. I found a few websites that might help you find the ones in your area:
I listed 27 items this week.
I did go to my first auction of the year, which was also my first sourcing trip. I find that the auctions are overpriced until March or so. I guess people are either spending money that they received as holiday gifts or resellers are getting their inventory back up. I did buy one lot of vintage Fiesta Ware. All were listed this week and are part of the 27 items.
We had a vacuum cleaner where the belt kept breaking, so I decided to lot out the pieces just like your coffee machine. I sold the canister for $20 this week. I paid $5 for the whole thing and got about 3 years of use out of it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183654450803On the other hand, I am working on grouping up some items that have been sitting for a year or two and haven’t sold. I feel these are better lotted up, or I’ll donate them if they sit again for a long amount of time.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183643934098Anyway, my numbers look decent, but I’ve got several issues:
Week of Jan 27 – Feb 2
* Total Items in Store: 1326 eBay, 10 Mercari
* Items Sold: 22 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $18.40 + $25 Commission
* Total Sales: $563.54
* Highest Price Sold: $60 x 2 IBM Wheelwriter 1500 Typewriters *May need to cancel both*
* Average Price Sold: $25.61
* Returns: 1
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 27Things to do list: Listed 1 death pile item, retook photos of a few pieces of jewelry (need better phone camera to finish them off)
Issues:
Both typewriters were listed as local pickups, and both buyers are not local. One did respond to my messages, and I was able to find a box for it. Adding shipping after the fact is difficult, but can be done. Since she hasn’t responded to my last message, I think I’m going to cancel and then message her after I relist it with shipping.The other buyer hasn’t responded. I’m going to send another message with a deadline on getting a response. If I have to relist, I’ll add an abbreviated Local Pickup in the title. I don’t have much room to add it since I also have “parts or repair”.
These typewriters work, but need servicing to work as intended. They’ve probably been sitting around for one to two decades without being used or maintained.
Then I sent the wrong pair of pants to a buyer (a repeat customer at that). To fix the issue, I resold him the pants for $5, and I’m waiting to get the wrong pair back so that I can refund him. This is maybe the second time I’ve done something like this in the three years I’ve been selling, so, oh well.
My last issue: A buyer opened a case in PayPal against something they purchased October 4 saying that they didn’t authorize the purchase. I know what to do; I’ll give all the information about the purchase with the tracking number, eBay listing, etc. The big issue is that the buyer opened it right after the USPS dropped the tracking information from their system. I called the USPS number this morning, and they said that tracking information is removed after 120 days.
I’m hoping that I’ll still win the case after providing all the details. I’m thinking that the buyer said that they didn’t authorize the purchase not that they didn’t get the item. I have nothing to do with their PayPal account or their credit card, so I shouldn’t be involved.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
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