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Yes, back to Florida for good! My wife is finally retiring after 36 years in the military. We are so happy to be leaving DC – can’t wait.
My listed inventory is tiny, just about 300 total at the moment with mostly smalls so it’ll be easy with the blue bins and just a handful of large items to keep track of. Our last move a couple years ago I was able to leave all the listings up and put them on 30 day handling which worked out fine with some careful planning and much work. This time, though, we have possession of the house we’re moving into much earlier. So I may take my inventory and supplies and some other things we don’t want the movers touching down early myself in a rental trailer or truck, unpack and get set up, and then come back up for the main move. Depending on how early I do that I may have to make use of the inactive store vacation mode where the listings stay up but purchases cannot be made to give me enough time.
It is so difficult to find complete, unsensationalized information about COVID 19 in one source. The US government Centers for Disease Control site at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/ is probably the best for US-centric info and the BBC has a very good page at https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51048366 .
That type of jacket you washed is often called a cruise jacket or tour jacket although sometimes they’re simply listed as satin souvenir jackets.
I’ve made many costly mistakes in my scavenging lifetime. One early memorable fail was the 19th century sapphire blue glass Harden’s Fire Extinguisher Grenade I sold for fifty cents at the flea market, thinking it was a cheap Pier 1 imported vase someone had filled, corked, and waxed. That was good for a couple hundred out the window even in the ‘80s. I recall it to this day because once the buyer paid for it and had it in his hand he couldn’t contain his glee. He told me all about what it was and how much it was worth, apparently forgetting his audience. I had to resist the urge to punch him in the nose and grab it back from him.
Ebay is definitely on the back burner as we prepare for another move in a couple months and my sales are definitely reflecting the lack of activity. But after getting moved in I hope to ramp things up to the next level and maybe then my numbers will be worth reporting.
Cool story and background! You are starting your own store with lots of embedded knowledge and the right attitude. You’re in the right place, here!
02/24/2020 at 9:36 pm in reply to: ebay Spring Seller Update is this Wed Feb 26, Town Hall Feb 25 #74362Thanks for the reminder. I hope they address your question first, MyCottage!
Good info, Mike! For reference and search purposes let’s call them ketones, toluene, and benzene. 🙂
Thanks for the update. Glad it worked. Whenever I have initiated the search it has apparently knocked the package loose and got it on its way and delivered according to tracking but I still got “we’re still trying to find your package” emails for an extended period.
02/14/2020 at 4:13 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Poker chips, Stuffed cat, Epiphone guitar, Boombox, 8-Track #73967Great sales, Steve and Sharyn! Steve, I wanted to mention last week that I had to laugh when you said you had listened to all seven of those Billy Joel 8-track tapes. I did not hear even a hint of chagrin in your voice but I don’t think I could have listened to them at all. As a musician I can appreciate his talent but I got really sick of hearing him so much on the radio in the 70’s and ‘80’s. I haven’t gotten over that.
Sharyn, that crazy guy that gave me boxes of stuff at the flea market for free threw in several sets of vintage playing cards, including a braille set that sold quickly for $10. But the reason I mention it was the discovery during my research of the different decks that selling individual playing cards is apparently a thing. It appears they are all very low dollar though so I think I’ll stick to selling the whole decks. Those are some cool decks you sold. It was the end of an era when Pan Am and Eastern went under.
Some recent sales:
I received this WWII British Army gas mask bag at a promotional showing of They Shall Not Grow Old, the recent documentary by Peter Jackson. He used CGI to enhance and smooth original WWI film and photos and colorized to make it all look like snippets of modern film. It was an amazing accomplishment and a very well-made film, though for me the effect was a bit cartoonish. The bag sold for $20 plus shipping. The item is from WWII, not WWI, but this year there will be some increased interest in WWII due to 2020 being the 75th anniversary of the end of that war.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273863636903
There are always many ‘90’s-vintage US Army woodland and desert camouflage uniforms up for sale cheap but I find I can charge a bit of a premium for pieces in good shape; starched and ironed and listed in men’s clothing rather than as military surplus, with measurements and decent photos and description. Recently a pair of desert pants went for $32 free shipping (padded flat rate priority) and a pair of woodland pants went for $28 plus shipping. These were free to me – well, maybe not free but I didn’t pay money for them.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/273938377820
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274065005052
I got this large Mexican handwoven hammock in El Salvador in the ‘80s. It sold for $45 plus shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274198089007
I sold these 2016 Air Jordan sneakers on consignment for my son’s friend for $122 free ship. I think I’ve mentioned before that my son and his friends used to spend too much time watching Youtube videos of hip hop fashion resellers. The friend lost interest when he learned that there’s actually work involved in selling things online and has had this pair for a while. I did recently see that supposedly the used sneaker market is showing no signs of abating.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274198459581
Did you know we have a US Navy base in Poland and it’s not even on the water? I didn’t, until I listed this. This consigned challenge coin for the recently established US Naval Support Facility Redzikowo sold for $42 on a best offer plus shipping, going back to Poland.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274196364099
This US Air Force Senior Pilot Qualification badge is undated but was made by a contractor active only in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, making it from the Vietnam Era. It sold to France for $25 plus (direct) shipping and was part of a lot purchase that came to about $1.30 an item.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/153751056182I recognize that page – last year they were calling the new service “eBay Send International Standard”.
So is it like GSP that you’re relying on a third party to prepare the customs forms – your shipment goes to a US hub?
I notice that there is a $100 cap on the insurance coverage.
Gawd that’s hilarious. Wallpaper? Cursing the next generation who has to remove it; like the 70’s all over again. Nice to see dark furniture come back into style since I’ve got a houseful of it I can’t give away. And how many ratty little wicker shelves have I thrown away in my lifetime?
I ship international direct so I already am on DDU shipping terms so that doesn’t matter to me. But I’m curious as to what the customs label shows for shipping service. Perhaps the service is actually First Class International (“Post Expres”) and that it’s just a discount pricing gimmick, like cubic shipping is for Priority Mail domestic?
Maybe if someone on the forum is using it they could upload a jpg of one of the labels for us to see.
Without seeing your message I can’t be sure if it is legit, but I have received email messages that are from eBay with that same text, identifying my listings that eBay thinks are missing product identifiers or that should have their “catalog” link. There was a link in the message to the listing they thought needed updating. For me it’s been just eBay trying to put the square peg of a vintage item listing into the round hole of the Amazon-like commodity platform features. I’ve ignored them.
I have a Rollo and can confirm direct functionality in 4×6 for both USPS and FedEx eBay labels. Like Simon, I also find international requires the extra steps.
If ICE is into the trying-to-beat-Amazon game (“lower quality GMV”), we’re doomed. Hopefully they are thinking more like Starboard Value; that the real value enhancer is better execution of the vintage business, which eBay could certainly use.
That is an intriguing statement. I think either they mean a category of goods or services, some kind of niche that is not yet readily available online (is there anything like that anymore?) or a different physical marketplace, like newspapers. But newspapers are online.
02/02/2020 at 9:14 am in reply to: Anybody familiar with the online Auction Site – LiveAuctioneers? #73574You know it’s all your fault Antique Frog, right? Although the Greeks invented auctions (to sell women off for marriage) you Brits refined it to the shyster art form it is today for selling people’s old stuff. If you hadn’t done so, we’d be going through everyone’s junk put out on the curb (or kerb, for where you drive on the wrong side of the road) instead of having to always check whether we still have our shorts after leaving an auction house.
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