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… with baseball cards much more popular now, it finally sold for $33.
Sharyn, one of my theories on the list-it-and-forget-it type of store is that for some things it’s not so much waiting for the right buyer to come along but rather waiting for the market to catch up to the listing price.
I run across the occasional big box of ’80’s – ’90’s junk wax sports cards at a yard sale for cheap but I’m still studiously avoiding them. Maybe it will get to where it’ll be worth picking them up in the hopes of finding a diamond in the rough – now there is even at least one junk wax YouTube channel. I have zero interest in them intrinsically, though, so I should probably stay away since combing through a big box of them would not be a labor of love.
This item is a reminder to me to never assume the value of something without specific research. An Olympics commemorative coin is the type of thing that a non-coin collecting Olympics attendee or enthusiast might buy and squirrel away, thinking it’ll be worth something someday. They have rarely appreciated much in value; that I’m aware of. This British 2009 Blue Peter 50p coin from the 2012 Olympics turned out to be an exception and validated my mantra to diligently research everything. It sold for $320 plus shipping on a best offer and went back to the UK. I found it in a lot of mostly next-to-worthless stamps and coins that would have been way overpriced at the $18.75 it cost me, absent this little gem. I have no idea why it sells for so much.
Another ship’s plaque off the family “I-Love-Me” wall sold, this one from USS STOUT, a guided missile destroyer, for $77 plus shipping.
I learned from Scavenger Life to always look for good puzzles at yard and estate sales. This Swiss Klotzl wooden block puzzle was $2 at an estate sale and sold for $39 plus shipping.
This thumb press banjo oiler sold for $20 plus shipping even though missing its cap. I have about a dollar in it as part of a miscellaneous box lot. I think these small round ones were originally made for use with sewing machines and the like, though there are brass ones of a similar design that were military issue for keeping machine guns oiled and are worth quite a bit more.
11/07/21 – 11/13/21
Total Active Items (2 different stores): 375
Items Sold: 10
Gross Sales: $268.27 (what the buyers paid, not incl shipping or taxes)
Highest Price Sold: $85 plus shipping – consignment challenge coin from the 2016 commissioning of the USS ZUMWALT.
Returns: 0
COGS: $55 (including consignment commissions but not including original cost of any family castoffs sold)
New Listings: 10
$ Spent on New Inventory: $12Just a fair to middling week for me, which is not unusual going into the holidays. Typically my sales soften in November and December and don’t pick up again until January.
10/31/21 – 11/06/21
Total Active Items (2 different stores): 375
Items Sold: 14 Gross Sales: $485.62 (what the buyers paid, not incl shipping or taxes)
Highest Price Sold: $119 plus shipping – 1923 Czech Mauser rifle bayonet (acquired via eBay snipe at $47).
Returns: 0
COGS: $79 (including consignment commissions but not including original cost of any family castoffs sold)
New Listings: 6
$ Spent on New Inventory: $0It took a couple of days but the buyer who received someone else’s item that I mentioned last week finally used the label I sent him and returned it to me. My faith in humanity is restored.
Congratulations on blowing out all those markers at once! I know it was a nice stash that kept on giving but I’ll bet you might have been getting just a little bit tired of them. 🙂
Here’s one of those US Navy going-away-gift wall plaques, this one is USS WILLAMETTE from the 1990s. A family item, it sold for $50 plus shipping on a best offer. A long tail item.
My dad went to Roosevelt High School with actress Cloris Leachman in Des Moines, Iowa. This is his 1944 yearbook with a picture or two of her that we found in his estate. The $45 plus shipping that I got for it was surely due to mentioning her name. Otherwise yearbooks don’t seem to be a big thing any more.
Another family estate item, this time from my wife’s side, is this Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheel. It took a Google image search for me to figure out what it was. Using the word “bone” in the title set off eBay’s alarm bells so I misspelled it and got away with it, and I also limited sale to US-only to avoid issues with customs. (When I do that, I also have to take off APO/FPO/DPO because although eBay labels has been getting it wrong ever since Managed Payments, a customs declaration is required for those addresses and specific country import prohibitions are supposed to apply.) It’s been up for a couple years and sold for $35 plus shipping on a best offer.
This was an interesting souvenir silver plate tray from the French Navy aircraft carrier FOCH that I picked up for $6 at an antique mall years ago and has been listed for quite a while. I did not think it would take so long to sell but it finally went on a best offer for $25 plus shipping.
Antique 1940’s Levi Strauss Saddleman Cowboy and Saddle Advertising Statue – Sold for $1,247.22 Sold Date Jun 13, 2015
LEVI STRAUSS Saddleman Cowboy Statue 1940’s – Sold for $3,500.00 Sold Date Dec 18, 2008
Cool item. You found one of those in the wild?
10/24/21 – 10/30/21
Total Active Items (2 different stores): 386
Items Sold: 12
Gross Sales: $294.48 (what the buyers paid, not incl shipping or taxes)
Highest Price Sold: $66 plus shipping – vintage rifle bayonet
Returns: 0 (but had an INR for $10)
COGS: $70.85 (including consignment commissions but not including original cost of any family castoffs sold)
New Listings: 6
$ Spent on New Inventory: $0The INR was due to me sending a buyer who bought one item a second item that someone else bought in a momentary bout of inattention. I sent a return label to that buyer and asked that they return the item they did not buy to me but they did not answer my message and so far have not used the label. Fortunately it was only a $10 item that didn’t cost me anything, going by Media Mail, so I’m only out the $3.19 Media Mail label. I can request a refund on the second label if they end up not sending it back. Fortunately the person who didn’t get their package doesn’t seem to be unduly upset about it, and I was quick to refund them before they even asked.
Great find in that junk drawer needle cartridge!
Here’s a real photo postcard dating from WWII of a platoon of German army soldiers. What’s interesting is that most of them are carrying non-German captured rifles. It was not uncommon for Germany at the time to use and reissue captured equipment, even if the ammunition was different, but not something I’ve seen in postcards or period photos before. It made this otherwise mundane group portrait much more desirable. It was $3 at a gun show and sold for $17 plus first class package shipping.
I ran across this Shore Moisture Meter for bulk grain at the flea market being sold by a tool guy. I didn’t even know what it was but it looked interesting. We chatted about it a bit; he showed me how it works, said that it sells for a lot on eBay and that he wanted $100 for it. When a seller mentions eBay we all figure it’s time to walk away but I took note that he did not specifically say that it sells for $100 on eBay. I did not press him further on the pricing but looked it over and told him that I would text some pictures to a friend of mine to see if he wants it. That gave me an excuse to pull out the phone and surreptitiously look it up on Terapeak. Excited but trying to look nonchalant, I pulled out 4 – $20’s to wave at him and said “yeah he wants it but he’ll only pay $80.” He took it. It sold for $500 with free shipping on a best offer after a couple months listed.
Here’s a consignment challenge coin that was a bit obscure so I had to wait for the right person who’d be willing to pay $73 plus shipping for it on a best offer, though it’s not in the best condition. It’s from Joint Task Force Noble Anvil, Allied Force Kosovo, dating from 1999.
College yearbooks have never sold well for me but I do have luck with something relating to a smaller college that’s not too old. This illustrated history of Hollins College from 1973 was $1 at an estate sale and sold for $26 with free media mail shipping.
10/17/21 – 10/23/21
Total Active Items (2 different stores): 409
Items Sold: 18
Gross Sales: $407.80 (what the buyers paid, not incl shipping or taxes)
Highest Price Sold: $59 plus shipping – 1990’s reissue 1/25 scale car model kit ($4 at the flea market).
Returns: 0
COGS: $94.68 (including consignment commissions but not including original cost of any family castoffs sold)
New Listings: 19
$ Spent on New Inventory: $0A goodly number of sales last week, for me, so I felt like I was “in the shipping business” as Jay referred to it. Many low dollar items but I do stick to smalls, though, when it comes to anything selling for under $20 so those only take a minute to ship. I did spend 40 minutes packing up a 15 lb vintage camcorder dive housing (double wrapped, used a whole bag of peanuts and had to make a Frankenbox) that was an unpleasant reminder of how much I hate shipping big items. The irony was that the darn thing was not fragile at all but had arms and things sticking out that would have destroyed the box from the inside during shipment given its weight if not packed well. And I had to make a special trip to drive it to a FedEx drop off. Grumble grumble!
Congrats on the super week! For letter-sized, non-machinable (stiff) flat items up to 3 oz not more than ¼” thick I send low value items to Canada for $2.13 using stamps. Has to be an envelope (I use the cardboard 6.5×4.5); can’t be a bubble mailer or poly bag. There is no tracking but I’m willing to take the hit in that range if the buyer says they didn’t get it.
I have 5 heading to Australia that seem to be stuck
Both Priority Mail and First Class Package are still suspended for Australia and New Zealand. USPS says they are returning to sender anything they have but it could take a while. They are under serious lockdown. A friend is a FedEx pilot who takes international routes and was recently in Sydney. He told of having a police escort everywhere and being locked in his hotel room with a guard in the hall.
You’re welcome! I can’t resist a mystery so I used Google app on my phone to capture your Imgur photo and it came right up in results. BTW, the Google photo search works exponentially better on my phone than on the desktop.
I have been getting lots of emails and interest in stuff from buyers asking detailed questions, but then they disappear…
I get many of those, often about something clearly already in the photos, condition, or description. My theory is that they are fishing for the seller to reply with an offer.
10/10/21 – 10/16/21
Total Active Items (2 different stores): 408
Items Sold: 12
Gross Sales: $210.76 (what the buyers paid, not incl shipping or taxes)
Highest Price Sold: $40 plus shipping – Lot of 2 Dept of the Navy Dinner China Bouillon Cups (from a lot that came to $1.25/item).
Returns: 0
COGS: $31 (including consignment commissions but not including original cost of any family castoffs sold)
New Listings: 41
$ Spent on New Inventory: $230.15The two bouillon cups noted as top sale had the mystery backstamp that I posted here and could never identify but it didn’t seem to matter.
Advertising figure for Supertrim detergent, Italy, by Paul Campani. “Pupazzo Angelino” or just Angelino, 1960-1969. Might have had a cartoon, too.
no one is going to be able to find any postcards under just those two sections
And the distinction between those two subcategories is by no means clear. EBay seems to have come up with its own definition of the word “topographical”. Postcards in Landscapes/Mountains and Roads and Highways subcategories will go to non-topographical even though they are topographical by any definition. And any postcard in a place-name subcategory will go to topographical which doesn’t make sense. Even among postcard collectors there is not a very definitive line to categorize a topographical postcard. Non-collectors looking for a card will presumably use the dictionary definition of the word topographical, which is simply relating to physical features of an area. So the distinction between eBay’s two subcategories will be useless with everyone defining it differently. They may as well have gone to a single category. It’s insanity.
