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I think it’s just an update as six more states’ laws take effect on October 1, that will be added to the states they’re already collecting for (DC included, I’ve noticed). Not sure why they’re making it sound like it’s something new.
Yes, it is sorely lacking. I find that it has gotten more and more difficult to create narrowly focused searches in eBay’s advanced search as it increasingly gives you irrelevant results.
I take it a step further than Jay describes above to search for items only within a subcategory. I do a broad generic search that I know will bring up a subcategory I want in the list to the left of the page. Then I click on that subcategory link, then open any item listed. Then, I click on the subcategory link along the top on the item listing page. I then arrive on a page with all the listings within my chosen subcategory.
I find it much easier and effective to then do more focused searches – staying within the subcategory – without pulling in a lot of extraneous listings. (It does take a little finesse sometimes to keep it in the subcategory as you do that because eBay will keep enlarging your categories unless you force it not to.)
Or just go through all of them if you’re just interested in learning the category, or sort for Time: Ending Soonest if you want to do some auction sniping within the subcategory, or sort for Time: Newly Listed to catch cheap buy-it-nows, etc.
Here’s what it looks like when I did all the above to arrive at the subcategory page for US: Colorado License Plates, which is four steps down from Collectibles:
I find that occasionally in some subcategories that limiting a word search to that subcategory is impossible. Also, many sellers do not accurately subcategorize their items so you’ll miss all of those listings. And most subcategories pages will not allow selecting for Sold Items under “Show Only”. It’s not there. You have to do a word search for the “Show Only” options to appear.09/20/2019 at 5:12 pm in reply to: Does Return Reason: "Doesn't seem authentic" Raise Flags on Ebay? #68071An INAD is an INAD when it comes to your Transaction Defect Rate. So long as you resolve it and eBay does not have to step in, there is no impact on that. And it’s not like a VERO violation, where it’s a different issue, driven by legal actions the manufacturer can take against eBay if they don’t police it. All eBay cares about is for you to make the buyer happy.
But INAD returns do impact your Service Metrics. Last time I checked, ALL INADs (and Item Not Received cases) – whether you resolve them or not – count towards your Service Metrics. Service Metrics are determined by comparison with your peers in specific categories. On the 20th of each month eBay calculates the Service Metrics, counting your INADS/INRs for the past 3 months for sellers with 400 or more transactions in that time, or the past 12 months for sellers with fewer than 400 transactions during the last 3 months. If you have a “very high” percentage of INAD/INR transactions compared to your peers (whether or not you resolve them), you “might be subject to” an additional 4% Final Value Fee for listings in the categories where you’re very high. This is where the mere fact of an INAD can hurt you, but only IF you get many of them compared to your peers.
See https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy/service-metrics-policy?id=4769 for the policy and https://www.ebay.com/sh/prf/service-metrics in order to see your current service metrics.
So that’s specifically where the trend or getting them too often can hurt you, not to mention if you’re dealing with risky types of items or fudging in your descriptions.
Well I spoke too soon. Not 100% yet. I can get some loaded if I do it one at a time but still with an occasional dud.
Uploading listing photos now working for me (desktop; Firefox).
Classic shipping labels now working for me. Uploading listing photos is not.
09/19/2019 at 1:07 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Lava lite, Headshell and Cartridge, Wax cat, MED Massager, Z-Coil shoes, Brunswick crank phonograph #67980Thanks, Steve, very helpful as always.
This monitor base came off an older Samsung 19” monitor of mine that finally gave up the ghost. It isn’t very exciting and I only got $20 plus shipping for it, but it was nice to learn there’s a market for what I would consider junk. In the free section of Craigslist recently there was a business giving away a small cache of about 20 old monitors. And I’ve seen old monitors on the curb on trash day, too. Unfortunately there’s no market for the monitor itself but at least my nearby Goodwill took mine for recycling.
This braided leather whip was a family estate item. It sold for $50 plus shipping. I listed it in Western Americana, not adult. It went to Florida?
This vintage saltwater fishing reel was found in the attic of a house we bought. It was corroded and not really in working order and turned out to be a K-Mart brand but still brought $15 plus shipping.
I usually would not touch a commemorative plate but this one was specific to a small town in Maine so I took a chance and paid $3 for it at a Goodwill. It sold for $44 plus shipping.
These vintage US Merchant Marine bullion officer shoulder boards are identified as such by the buttons and harp specialty insignia. Part of a large box lot, I have about $2 in them and they sold for $50 plus shipping.
This so-called “challenge” coin is part of a large consignment from a friend who recently retired from the Navy after 30-something years of service with about 800 coins, all given to him over the years. The challenge coin tradition started as a military offshoot of the European love of medals and medallions that was brought to the US by the Eastern European soldiers who comprised a significant portion of the US Army Special Forces in the 1950s and 60s. (That’s also where the green beret headgear initially came from.) It started out as a very personal item of elite unit camaraderie, in a single design specific to that one unit, and one’s name would be engraved on it. On liberty it would be pulled out and slapped on the bar to see who’d buy the next round of drinks– if everyone there had their unit coin to slap on the bar, the challenger would buy. If anyone did not have their unit coin on them, that person had to buy the round. In only the last 20 years or so all the US military branches have adopted them in a big way – especially the Navy, for some reason – and it has exploded as a collecting area. The military traditions have changed and the coins are now items that are given to others as personal awards, mementos, visitors gifts, etc. Any given unit now might have multiple different designs of coins, one for the commanding officer, one for the senior enlisted, different ones commemorating important events, and so on. Civilian government officials have them now as well. This particular coin was from the Chief Petty Officers Association at Naval Station San Diego and it sold for $39 plus shipping.Thanks; when I started picking about 47 years ago in Philadelphia it was solidly in real antiques so I usually know more or less what I’m looking at if something’s really old. (It took a move to California years later – where it was all about MCM and real antiques were a tough sell – to broaden my horizons.) But, what’s important is a good eye and your fresh look at that plate with no preconceived notions is what made it a great sale.
I didn’t recognize the pattern off the top of my head. There were like 1,500 Staffordshire potters in the 18th and 19th Centuries and each potter could have many patterns. I was curious about the lack of maker’s mark or logo, and given the high price you got for it I thought maybe you did have something unusual. I did know that the diamond kite was the British patent registry mark and that it provided the exact date of registration. So I went here https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/registered-designs-1839-1991/ to decode the date of registration and then here https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3086 to search by class number and date to find that William Brownfield & Son’s tableware pattern registration #292500 was the only ceramic registration on June 10, 1875. There are no photos (though apparently you can pay the archive to provide a copy of the actual record) but once I got the maker and number it only took a few focused google searches to pinpoint the pattern. The Sylvan series had a number of different wildlife design patterns with a hunting theme. It came in full color (which was really impressive), and monochrome in at least blue and the brown you had, and I think black.
Here’s what the complete markings would have looked like before they wore off (though it is possible it was never completely marked):
There are many beautiful patterns but eventually only museums and a smattering of hardcore collectors will be interested in this stuff. The collectors are aging out and there’s little nostalgia for it. There is more interest in it in the UK of course but it’s waning.
I heard Jay mutter “the Seven Sisters” in your discussion. Actually in that immediate area of Mass is the Five College Consortium, which is something different. A little known fact (well, ok, maybe just an urban legend) is that each the five main Scooby Doo cartoon characters represents one of the five colleges. Daphne is Mt Holyoke, Velma is Smith, Fred is Amherst, Shaggy is Hampshire, and Scooby is UMASS Amherst. Which to me is hilarious, if you know the characters and the colleges because the stereotypes are pretty appropriate (though not very PC, sorry). (My daughter attends UMASS Amherst.)
I think you did very well with that transferware plate. It’s the Monarch of the Glen pattern in the Sylvan series by William Brownfield & Son, Cobridge, Staffordshire. I would have listed it at maybe half what you sold it at, given the color and condition and antique china being a declining market, and taken half again of that, if offered. Brownfield was one of the larger Staffordshire potteries. The visible “kite” mark simply dates Brownfield’s patent registration for the design of that tableware series which in this case is June 10, 1875.The marks which would have included the series, pattern, and maker have been worn off. The embossed marks are the mold code and date of manufacture.
Amatino beat me to it but I’ve had a prosthetic leg also, only I paid for mine. It was at a weekly auction in the depths of the Oakland CA ghetto that had a contract with the city to sell unclaimed estates and was one of those things that the auctioneer was begging for bids on. When he got down to $1 I took it. That was in my days as a flea market dealer so it was good for some creative displays until someone bought it.
One of my favorite scavenges that gave me many years of good use was a Weber gas grill with a broken lid handle that I happened upon at the curb. The handle was an easy fix.
Another would have to be the $120 in twenty dollar bills I found tucked in books I got in an estate cleanout. It was a rowhouse in North Philly that all manner of antique and specialty dealers had already been through but there was a truckload of stuff left, including a couple bookcases of mostly hardback fiction. I wouldn’t touch something like that today but I was a lot less particular in those days.
You’re welcome, congratulations on the great sale!
09/06/2019 at 10:53 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 426: Our Financial Lives Are Tied To The Mysterious Whims Of A Website #67456Thanks! I had forgotten about that post.
09/06/2019 at 10:14 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Iceland Air Card deck, Telephone Index, 8-Track Stereo, Keens, Advent tweeter #67453Thanks for the video, Steve. I’ve flown Icelandair but only to Iceland and back in the ‘90’s a couple times when there was still a US Navy base there. At the time it was about the cheapest way to fly to Europe from the US so the passengers were quite a motley crew. Skateboards in the overhead bins, etc. I recently sold a Summit Racing hat also, and for the same price as yours. They periodically gave them away with minimum purchase (how I got mine a while back) and it appears to be a common item but they still sell.
I do well with random hardware. I have a bin of these brass rope edge keyhole escutcheons leftover from my flea market/antique mall dealer days when auction-sourced vintage English furniture was a significant part of my inventory. This lot of 4 sold for $19 plus shipping.
This miniature screwdriver (about 4” long) had been living in my toolbox for years. It caught my eye recently. I researched it and found that this vintage “perfect handle” style is in demand. Made by SB Company in Germany (pre WWII), it did not take long to sell for $33 plus shipping despite its worn condition.
Here’s an instruction booklet for what is not an especially desirable model of Sears shotgun. Probably ’70’s vintage. Part of a cheap box lot, it still sold for $20 with free shipping.
I have enjoyed dipping my toe into selling postcards since John Miller of Popeye’s Postcards was interviewed here a while back. I don’t think I could maintain his volume but I have found them easy to list and ship once I got my processes for them down. I’ve started a second store for my low dollar items and postcards are perfect for that. It’s fun to find the sleepers in the millions of them out there, like this late 1940’s real photo card of Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, with the famous Little Bit O’ Heaven gardens. It sold for $15 plus shipping, which is not bad for a postcard.
Another sale from the interesting lot of salvage Vietnam War-era camouflage uniform shirts I’ve mentioned previously. This one went for $80 plus $23 shipping to Thailand.
My family enjoys shopping at Goodwill but I’m not a fan. If I go along for the ride I’m prepared to be disappointed with the high prices but I still usually find at least one or two things worth purchasing for resale, of which this double rocks glass is an example. Purchased for $2 (50% off), it appears to be hand-painted and depicts the ski lifts and lodges of Aspen, Colorado. It took about a month to sell for $27 plus shipping.09/06/2019 at 10:11 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 426: Our Financial Lives Are Tied To The Mysterious Whims Of A Website #67452The way I do it is to open the shipping label page for the item, delete the words “new_label” in the url and replace with “back_to_classic”, without the quotes. I don’t use bulk labels so I’m not sure if there is a way to do it other than for each individual label.
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