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Try http://www.PirateShip.com. You might want to consider cutting your losses by suggesting a partial refund and let them keep it.
08/29/2019 at 10:31 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: HealthKit power supply, Pioneer turntable, Harley shirt, Wooden shoes, Wood Shipping box, Model car body #67081Good sales, Steve. The car models sure bring back memories for me of building those as a youngster. Thanks also for showing us your piles of stuff to list – makes me feel better about mine.
More sales from earlier this summer. I’ll spare you the militaria this week:
This Mickey Mouse glass stopper was $1 at an indy thrift. I initially thought it was for wine bottles but the stopper part was too wide. There were a number of these stoppers for sale on eBay but no decanters that it would have come with. Something about it fooled my iPhone camera. I never could get a decent in-focus picture of it. It took a while to sell for $24 plus shipping.
This Swatch watch was out of the family donation box. My son wore it daily in middle school for a while so it was pretty beat up though it kept good time. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in it given the condition but I thought I’d give it a try. It sold for $24 plus shipping.
This Yamaha keyboard sustain pedal was $1 at a yard sale. I was disappointed to learn there are many for sale and for not very much. I tried testing it with an amplifier but without a keyboard I couldn’t determine whether it worked or not. It was in perfect condition so I took a chance and sold it as untested but 100% guaranteed and at a price a little under market. If it turned out bad, I would just refund and let the buyer keep it, only losing the $1 I had in it and the $3 or so for first class postage one way. It sold for $15 free ship and never heard a peep.
This 14K gold 1950’s F-86 Sabre Jet tie bar was part of a large lot of items all purportedly belonging to a prominent author who also had an interesting military career. I acquired the lot from a flea market dealer and although many items were definitely the author’s, this was among a number of random military-related pieces in the lot that I’m sure were just thrown in by the dealer to sweeten the pot because they had no connection to the author’s career. I don’t think the dealer realized the bar was gold, and I certainly did not until I pulled it out to list and was pleasantly surprised. I determined it’s primarily value was the gold content and gold jewelry is a hot category so I put it at auction, starting it at where I would have priced it as BIN. It sold for $218.10 plus shipping with three bids.
This biology textbook was my son’s last year. He never touched it. The school makes you buy the book but everything they do is online. Textbooks can be great sellers but obviously condition and year are important determiners of value. Many are stupid expensive new. This one was a 2019 edition though it came out in 2018. It sold for $100, with free ship to be competitive.
This hand-crafted leather wallet was out of a family estate, probably a gift to grandpa. It took a while to sell for $25 plus shipping. It was used, but in very good condition. I definitely do better with distressed leather.Great podcast! Great advice and insight, as always, and congratulations on the big sale. This summer I had one period of 30 day handling and one period of 20 day handling and those red flags that popped up on some items when changing handling time were beastly. I’m glad I didn’t wait until the last minute before I left to change it because it took me a while to slog through it. My sales were great while I was away, though.
I’m one of those part-timers with 200 – 250 listings and I’ve grossed an average of $265 a week so far this year. My net is not that useful for comparison purposes since many of my items are family castoffs, inherited, or items from my collecting that I didn’t buy for resale. Speaking of which, if I convert a personal item to inventory that sells for less than was paid for it, I use the selling price as my purchase price so that it is a wash on the books. There are couple reasons that I think justify that, one of which is the IRS rules for depreciation of assets converted from personal to business use. Another is that the IRS is not interested in you reporting your income from a personal garage sale where you lose money on sale of personal items. If the item sells for more than I paid for it, though, I use my original purchase price as basis and show the difference as net profit and pay tax on that. So long as I don’t take a tax loss on the item I think it’s a reasonable approach. But I have never been audited to prove I’m right and this is not tax advice – YMMV.
BTW, the back_to_classic workaround to get the old shipping label page is still working for me, as of yesterday, anyway.
And, I yes, I can attest that urban post office service, at least in DC, is not as good as when I’ve lived in a suburban or rural area. The latest thing is when they don’t feel like coming by my house on a Saturday they’ll scan any packages that were due then as delivered. Then they miraculously show up on Monday or Tuesday.
It doesn’t completely answer your question but you might find this article interesting: https://www.blog.size.ly/blog/what-your-need-to-know-about-the-modern-online-shopper?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=D4stu&utm_medium=email
Along those lines I think that online vintage shoppers are a small subset of vintage shoppers overall. My wife and kids are pretty solid thrift shop patrons (clothing and other items, both vintage and current) and also buy new clothing and accessories online but would never buy anything vintage or used online. Most people I personally know are like that.
I went on and off extended handling this summer twice and both times had problems with all listings updating, though the items that did not change were flagged in the process with a “sorry, something went wrong try again later” message or something like that, if I recall. (I don’t have business policies, and there were no offers outstanding.)
One such item sold shortly thereafter so my initial theory was that they were in peoples’ shopping carts.
But when I called eBay they said it was because I was using Internet Explorer and I needed to change Chrome when logging into my account. I had no further problems after doing so.
Sid Vicious! There’s a blast from the past. Worthpoint says:
Sold for $99.99
Sold Date Apr 03, 2017
Source eBay
Original Category Entertainment Memorabilia:Music Memorabilia:Rock & Pop:Artists S:Sex Pistols:ApparelNever heard of it. Can you give us a link? I’d be interested to see it.
It’s from an O’Connor tripod or fluid head. Mostly high end, commercial tripods I think.
Worthpoint says similar items have sold for as much as $5,000 on eBay in 2017.
This summer there were sales at $2,000, $1,049, $2,750, $1,075, and $1,050.
Don’t know if these are exactly the same models but this probably warrants some more research.A long, busy summer with little time at home almost comes to an end. With one period of 30 day handling and one period of 20 day handling on my stores over the last couple months, I still had very strong sales. I did have one cancellation that was purportedly because of the long handling time, but based on the item and the quick cancellation I suspect eBay showed him a cheaper one after he checked out.
Of course now that I’m back on one day handling it’s been crickets for the last week or so.
Some interesting sales going back a bit earlier this summer:
This US military canvas M1956 ammunition pouch with a 1962 contract date was in excellent condition. It was part of a large lot that was cheap so I only have pennies in it. It took a while to sell for $30 plus shipping.
This Saudia Airlines notepad probably dates from the ‘60’s or ‘70’s and was out of my in-laws’ estate. Research indicated it was not worth as much as I thought it should be. It sold for $17 plus shipping.
I bought a selection of these Vietnam era US Army slant-pocket ripstop cotton ERDL camouflage shirts from a commercial supplier recently for $25 each. The lot are all stamped SALVAGE, mostly have had all patches removed, and are in very worn condition, with holes, frays, and old repairs. Back in that era usually these types of field uniforms belonged to the unit rather than the soldiers having to buy them. They remained unit property. You signed them out, kept them until they tore or wore out (which didn’t take long since they were made of a lightweight cotton even if it was “ripstop”) at which time you could then take them to the unit supply room and trade them (“DX” in army talk) for new ones. Supply would often repair the ones that weren’t too bad and reissue them. At some point they’d get too worn out to reissue, get sent to a DRMO and sold off in a surplus auction by the Gaylord box or bale full. The days of getting these vintage uniforms at the government auctions are long gone so these must have been hiding in the back of someone’s warehouse somewhere. This one sold for $80 and went to France for $23 shipping.
This vintage Namco plug and play joy stick TV game console was a dollar at a yard sale. It is loaded with Ms Pac man, Galaga, Pole Position, Xevious, and Mappy. All of which means nothing to me, having never played video games, but that’s what I found when I plugged it in to an older TV to check for function. It was kind of cool but I still don’t get the attraction. Sold as tested and working it did not take long to go for $35 with free shipping.
I have about $5 in this WWII era US Navy fighting knife sheath or scabbard as part of a large knife lot I sniped on eBay a while back. The crooked USN stamp helps confirm that it is not a reproduction. It sold quickly for $49 plus shipping.
I always keep an eye out for military unit histories and Navy cruise books. This one for the WWII 446th Bomb Group of the US Army Air Corps was put together in the ‘90s so it isn’t worth as much as some but it still had unit rosters, photos, and other information of interest to collectors, amateur historians, and family members. It was $6 at an indy thrift and sold in a couple weeks for $68 plus shipping.I have successfully shipped very heavy car transmission gears sets and other similar items in a flat rate. The limit is 70 lbs. I never used newsprint for padding since it gives eventually and allows the item to start breaking the box from the inside. Bubble wrap and styrofoam sheet and peanuts worked for me, packed as tight as I could get it. Then shake it vigorously, open it back up, and pack some more padding in. Then tape all the edges and corners of the box to reinforce them, and a couple straps of tape all the way around in all directions. The box still might be pretty beat up on arrival but it will be intact.
But it just occurred to me that the large flat rate is 12x12x5.5 so your item is too big. 🙁
Marble is brittle so you’ll probably want to double box it anyway. This is where priority cubic shipping with Pirate Ship or similar might help. Or just do local pick up.
Nice rant, Mike! As for eBay competition and reseller shopping strategy, I have a few comments. Everything sells on eBay, but some things better than others. If you run across a “vintage” Chinese Hobby Lobby item at a yard sale for pennies, you can probably get $10-15 for it on eBay, if you wait long enough. There are budget shoppers who like the look and who don’t know or care about age and quality but it’s only a segment. Just as there is a segment of online buyers who would never buy anything that is or even looks old. But fortunately there is a big segment who will only buy age and quality (including some kids, Mike! 🙂
As for impact on buying for resale, in my picking days in the ‘70s one of my big fears was paying too much for a cheap Pier 1 item or an antique reproduction. I honed my age and quality radar to filter it out. Pier 1 items had a certain look and feel, and true antique reproductions were pretty obvious and limited to specific collecting areas, like cast iron mechanical banks, carnival glass or nautical brass. The biggest sellers of antique reproductions were auctions and “antique” stores. Not mainstream retail so there was not tons of that type of stuff out there.
Then I started seeing random unfamiliar “old” things in the wild, would get excited and pick them up, look closely, and think “what the hell is this?” Hello Kirkland’s, HomeGoods, and others and yes, Hobby Lobby. It’s all over the place now, and I think much more of it than there used to be. (Maybe a result of Antiques Roadshow and the like? I don’t know.) So my eye just had to get better at filtering it out while sourcing.It’s all been around for a while, now. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Just know it when you see it so it can be realistically evaluated for resale.
My theory on some of those random tracking entries is that they’re CYA entries from lazy mail carriers if the package is not delivered on the day it’s supposed to be delivered. Those entries take the fault off the carrier for failing to deliver. At one place I lived the carrier sometimes failed to deliver packages to me that were “out for delivery” and then entered “undeliverable as addressed” in tracking until he got around to actually delivering them. Where I am now, i get the occasional “unable to access delivery location” or something to that effect. They’ve always eventually been delivered.
Once I had a buyer whose package was delayed and he was getting weird tracking updates. He started bugging me about it. So I filed a missing mail claim with USPS to make him happy (even though it says to wait a specific time after the stated delivery date before filing it). The funny thing was that the item was delivered to him within the next day or two but over the next couple months I would still occasionally get an email in response to my claim saying that sorry they had not found it but they were still looking for it.
That being said I love the USPS and 99% of the time they do a great job so I have no complaints.
Good to see that they’re working on improving service for large items. But even now it is so much better than the old days of only having LTL freight and bus cargo options.
Man that’s a tough one. The crest shape is vaguely familiar. It is an odd looking cover. My guess is foreign, but it may be a different US orphan make other than Packard. Is it for a 14” wheel?
You could email Hubcap Joe, Crazeenydriver on Youtube, he might be able to tell you. He’s at crazeenydriver@aol.com.
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