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01/07/2019 at 1:15 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 393: Happy New Year and Returns Happen #54702
Week of Dec 30 – Jan 5
* Total Items in Store: 1312 eBay, 10 Mercari
* Items Sold: 10 eBay
* Cost of Items Sold: $8.86 + $2.50 Commission
* Total Sales: $211.55
* Highest Price Sold: $40 Nonworking 1956 Webcore portable record player
* Average Price Sold: $21.15
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 25Talking about selling non-working electronics, my highest sale was a Webcore record player from the 50s. I plugged it in and heard just a hum (after it warmed up). I did a little research to see how difficult it would be to fix (Steve Shultz makes it seem easy), and it was just too much time and effort. Then, I looked at how to ship it (Steve Shultz makes it seem difficult), so I listed it as local pickup only.
On Saturday, I received a $40 offer on a $49 asking price, which I accepted immediately. The buyer immediately paid and requested a pickup on Sunday. Couldn’t ask for a better buyer. I met the guy in a strip mall parking lot. He bought and fixed his first one as a kid (with help from his father) and has been doing it ever since as a hobby. The ones he has bought online usually have cracks in the case and sometimes broken tubes because it wasn’t packed properly. He was thrilled to find someone locally where he could pick it up.
So, this was a case of finding the right buyer for the item. Really worked out nicely.
In other news, my sales sucked last week. However, I sold 4 things Sun – Wed, nothing Thurs or Fri, and then 6 items on Saturday. Maybe a turnaround?
Bone is a possibility for the lighter color handles. I’ll have to research that further.
Here are some photos of the hallmarks. They are very small, so the photos came out only so-so even using a 10x magnification.
I agree that the MB is the maker. I did look at some hallmark websites, and found M&B, but not MB. I still have more research to do. After the crown & lion marks, there is another mark that could be a date hallmark. I can’t really make it out that well, so I’d have to see a table of date marks to determine which one it matches.
Thanks Mike – If it continues to test negative, I could use Bakelite Type in the title, and then say in the listing that it is an older plastic, but didn’t test positive for Bakelite. I still have to buy that Simichrome. It’s on my list to do.
I have a Mah Jong set with Catalin tiles. I know because some documentation that came in the set indicated the material type. Otherwise, I would have no idea. But I do get that the two words can be interchangeable, and the two patents are so old that the trademarks probably don’t mean anything at this point. I don’t think you could get a VERO on using either word! (Although, a customer could be pissed if you described something as Bakelite, but it was more modern plastic).
I only use the phone to move the photos into the listing. Everything else I do on the computer, so I don’t have the issue you are talking about. I did try the phone app to list a few things once, and I encountered those issues. So, starting with an existing item and listing on the computer is best.
The tool I posted does not automatically adjust your price; it only shows you what similar items have sold in the recent past. You still have to manually adjust your price.
I had 0 (NO) sales on Thursday and Friday followed by 6 sales on Saturday and 4 so far today. I’m sure that the eBay marketing team knows what’s going on, but I have no idea. Maybe people were getting back to work and catching up after New Years, but once the weekend started folks are spending all their new gift cards or gift money? Who knows.
Sales usually help, not hinder. Mine all ended right before Christmas, and I just haven’t had the time to restart them.
01/06/2019 at 10:40 am in reply to: The auction from !@$#$!&* (Ryanne would have hated this one!) #54610Both auctions have different bidding methods, and you are right, it can be confusing. With “choice”, they have a group of similar items, and you bid a price to pick the ones you want. So, let’s say that they have a dozen of something. The first winning bid gets to pick as many as they want at that price. They can chose to buy all or just one. Let’s say they buy two, then the remaining 10 get auctioned off again, usually at a lower price, and the winner can chose how many to buy and so on. At some point, when the quantity gets low enough, they’ll just bid the remaining items at “one money”.
Sometimes they’ll bid a price per item, and you have to buy all of them. Usually, they will do that only a few are available, like maybe 3 or 4 of an item.
The rustic auction will bid what’s left on a table, i.e. a table lot, but the one at the convention center doesn’t do that. They’ll skip something and put it back on a different table when maybe new bidders are available. They definitely are trying to get higher commissions as they have higher rent to pay.
01/06/2019 at 10:30 am in reply to: The auction from !@$#$!&* (Ryanne would have hated this one!) #54607For the first two years or so of me selling on eBay, I’ve been going to an auction held in a convention center. It has heating & air conditioning, clean bathrooms, seats along the sides, paved parking lot, easy access to the turnpike, decent food truck, etc.
In July, I went to a different auction that I’ve now attended almost every month. The auctions are held in open buildings – probably they were barns at one time – with an outside area in between. The bathrooms are two porta-potties. They did set up fans in the summer and heaters when it started to get really cold. The only seats are the ones up for sale, and the parking lot is gravel. It also has easy access to the turnpike, but the drive is about 10 minutes longer. The food truck is awful, so I have to bring my own food. However, the deals I’ve been getting there have been just out of this world. I’ve filled up my minivan for $17.25 several times. So, I’ll deal with it.
The people at the auctions, working there and attending, have been fine at both. There is one auctioneer that works both venues, and I started talking to him (when possible). He also has his own auction company.
I did have a box stolen out of my car at the more rustic auction. I was filling up my car and not locking it each time I went to get the next load. I figured who would steal the stuff when I got it for so little. I didn’t realize it until the next day when I unpacked. I wasn’t too concerned because of what a deal I got, but I’m locking my car no matter what from now on.
Ah, yes, now I remember the cat-parasite discussion!
I find that the different types of older plastic are hard to figure out. Acrylic is another one to add into the mix.
The older plastics such as Bakelike, celluloid, Catalin, and so forth are collectable. Bakelite is particularly popular for whatever reason, but I know that many sellers will just list it without double-checking. Catalin and Bakelite are very similar, just slightly different chemically.
Even if the handles on your knives and forks aren’t exactly one of the above, people are interested the pre-modern plastic. You should do a little investigation before deciding what to do.
Now, if I can figure out what a cat has to do with it all :). Must be English slang!
Sure, I’ll buy the simichrome. I guess I should have gone straight to that and not bothered with the 409.
Antique Frog –
I’m pretty sure these are not EPNS. From what I’ve seen, nickel plated items are darker & duller, so I’m pretty sure this set is at least silver plate. I was initially surprised when I found that silver plate sold reasonably well. I thought those were out of style, but apparently people still like them. I haven’t compared EPNS to silver plate, so I can’t really speak to that.
Looking at the marks on the metal, I see a crown, a lion, and the letters MB. I can’t really see the rest. I do have a silver testing kit that I bought months ago and haven’t used yet. That will tell me if I have sterling.
01/04/2019 at 12:11 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Empty tequila bottle, Turntable, Hat case, Cow Head Bell, Album holder, Magazine rack. #54503I’ll try to answer for Steve from where I stand. Hopefully, I get things right.
I follow Steve’s store, and he did sell the cookbook on eBay. You can search for some of the items he has sold recently and find his store that way. Some people don’t like to link to their store on this forum.
I did notice that many of the similar cookbooks sold on auction, which perhaps did not get the seller the best price. Some buyers don’t like auctions, so they pay the asking price. Some have the impression that a higher price means better quality or customer service.
He is the only one to list the book number (9008) in the title, so that might have helped in searches. He is also very professional in his listings, writes more than the average joe (including myself), and mentions that he is retired USAF and that he has been selling on eBay since 1999. Any of those things can help him get better prices.
01/03/2019 at 9:12 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Empty tequila bottle, Turntable, Hat case, Cow Head Bell, Album holder, Magazine rack. #54482What does EAGP stand for? I try to stay away from glass, but these seem like quite a find!
01/03/2019 at 1:02 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Empty tequila bottle, Turntable, Hat case, Cow Head Bell, Album holder, Magazine rack. #54454I also had a couple after-Christmas game sales. This Civilization board game was on commission for my friend who had the online auction last year. It was purchased in the 80’s, but never used. The game pieces were “unpunched” (learned that word from one of Steve’s previous What Sold videos). It sold for full price of $79.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183494361856This Super Bowl XXVII hat is no big deal except that it sold to someone in France! Paid $1, sold for $17. So, an American football fan in France, or someone who just wanted a unique cap?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183184997018At an online auction in December, I purchased a cookbook lot at the minimum bid of $1. I saw several older fund raiser type cookbooks, which can sell pretty nicely. When I got them home, I found a 2006 LA Weight Loss cookbook that was a companion to their program. I did a search, and that program appears to not be in existence any more. I figured someone had to have stayed on the program and would want the cookbook. Sold in about a week for $23.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183596549562I bought three vintage Monopoly game sets at a garage sale this past summer/fall for $2 each. The other two have already sold at OK prices. This Great Britain version sold at a better price of $33.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/183384907361Sometimes we talk about how our eBay sales prevent stuff from ending up in landfills, but here I can prove it. My husband and I were at our recycling center in the fall, and he spotted this miniature TV set from the 80s sitting in the electronics dumpster. It worked, and I sold it for $35 to someone in Korea. Maybe he is collecting Korean made electronics?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/18337387871801/03/2019 at 11:04 am in reply to: Listing items you are completely not interested in listing #54446I sold some Carolina boots about a year ago, very quickly. Work boots do well. Many new items use stock photos. Or you only need two or three photos. You don’t need too much of a description because the style name and size will be mostly what a buyer needs to know. I think you should get list them right away!
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