Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
There’s liveauctioneers but that’s really upscale, and proxibid which leans upscale. My experience is that unfortunately AuctionZip is the best site for local type auctions. Other things I have done to find auctions are Google and Google Maps searches. Of course the best auctions for buying are often the ones that have the most limited online presence. In some states the auctioneer licensing departments can provide lists of auctioneers. Not all licensed auctioneers are active and some only do real estate or industrial equipment for example but you can contact them and see what they do.
It is a shame that so many auctions out there are complete wastes of time. Other than calling and trying to get a feel for their style, sometimes you just have to go and see for yourself. The type you’re calling the “reg” crowd I call “entertainment” auctions. Just a form of local entertainment, like bingo.
I have never used Global Shipping, I always ship direct. In the past I shipped a number of items to Russia and never had a problem. But several years ago I started using Shipsaver for insurance and they do not cover Russia or its former satellites (Commonwealth of Independent States they are called now) after the item reaches the destination country, which of course would be the problem if there was one. So I then stopped shipping to Russia and those countries (among others). I feel that if both Global Shipping and Shipsaver think it’s too risky, that’s good enough for me. I also agree that the buyer’s promise to assume the risk is worthless.
Cute. And only about 7 yrs later, it was a reality (though started as “AuctionWeb” in ’95, the name “eBay” didn’t come until ’97).
Great video, Elizabeth. Nice of you to share your mistakes with your successes and observations – we all can learn from them.
Welcome Heidi! Funny how so many eBayers come from similar backgrounds.
Speaking of TX, I just got back from a week in hill country for the annual reunion of my wife’s extended family in Wimberley. (Her closest relations attending are second cousins, most are third cousins, of various removals.) Always pains me to leave.
Welcome, Steve. You are obviously a high energy person, putting that to good use already. And thinking about and implementing best practices as you learn by doing. I’m a part time eBayer also from way back and scavenger, retired otherwise, but I do enjoy hearing from folks like you on the forum who are ramping up and sharing your thinking and processes. When research and treasure hunting are the most fun for people, listing can suffer. The discipline you’re already showing in listing will serve you well.
Awesome Henry J, Steve! The buyer is probably an old school drag racing fan. And thanks to everyone else who posts their sales – I learn some new things every time.
Sales have been very slow but here are a few recent ones of interest:
Tobacciana used to be a solid and quick seller for me back in my days of selling at flea markets and antique cooperatives but it is surprisingly slow for me on eBay. This Italian restaurant porcelain ashtray was a thrift shop buy at $3 and took about a year to sell for $30 plus shipping.
https://imgur.com/ZHnRLmA
This US Army Master Parachutist Badge (aka “jump wings”) was $1.50 at an indy thrift in a military town where this type of thing is common and can be sourced cheaply. EBay sold prices are all over depending on age, maker, metal composition, and condition. Always many for sale on eBay so there is competition but many sellers do not bother to take a close up photo of the back or interpret what markings are found to help establish value for collector buyers. This one is a cheap “pot metal” standard version of the type currently available at any PX but made by a rarer government contractor long out of business (Antaya Bros Inc of Attleboro MA) so I could get $20 plus shipping for it, if I waited long enough. It took 9 months to sell.
https://imgur.com/U3Kt65u
There was recently a discussion about focusing on smalls to sell on eBay. I have many of them stashed away in my personal version of Jay’s death piles, this 1939 World’s Fair lapel pin being an example. Many smalls are low profit and long tail, the advantage being that they’re easy to pack and ship and have a zero return rate. There’s tons of this stuff out there, in box lots at auctions and in eBay’s wholesale lots category, so it’s pretty easy to buy only having pennies in each item of the lot. This took 5 months to sell at $10 plus shipping.
https://imgur.com/kqxFk7q
This is a beat up Turkish Army M35 Mauser rifle bayonet and scabbard of a type manufactured in the millions between WWI and WWII. The “AS.FA” stamp on the pommel helps identify it as Turkish. Aside from that, Turkey made countless variations of these (many were modified versions of bayonets from Germany and other countries). Most Turkish bayonets are found in heavily used and abused condition so I had no trouble paying $30 for it at a gun show knowing I was sure to at least double my money relatively quickly, despite its condition and that it’s probably one of the least desirable and most common variations. It sold for $70 plus shipping in about a month. The Mauser is a bolt action rifle, so there are no concerns with eBay’s “assault rifle” accessory prohibitions.
https://imgur.com/Qn6qPZmCool watches. They appear to be automatic, meaning they are wound by gentle movement of the watch. No batteries. Shake them gently sideways for fifteen seconds and see what happens. The second hand should move smoothly, not a jerky “tick tick” like a quartz watch. They’ll probably work just fine with a winding.
There is a market for vintage dress automatic watches of lesser known Swiss makers with no fancy features but from what I’ve seen, there is not a correlation between rarity of these types and price. Without bezels they aren’t really “skindiver” watches, but the backs should indicate a water depth rating. Not that divers use dive watches any more, but actual dive watches are more desirable, as you can see by the high dollar Sicura dive watches sold on eBay.
With a zip code on the warranty they are post-1963. Checking Google Maps there is now a college at the address of “Gulf Special Offers” which probably referred to Gulf Oil gas stations. People stopped buying mechanical watches and most secondary makers switched to quartz by the early 1980’s and “special offers” from gas stations kind of died in the ‘70’s with the gas crisis upheavals so I think it’s safe to date these from the late ‘60’s, maybe early 70’s. And they merged with Brietling in 1979, according to Wikipedia.
The broken band is likely to be a cheap fix at a watch repair or jeweler. The jeweler can also pull the back for you and provide the name and caliber of the movement that you can put in the listing. The cases and tags increase the value. I see one or two Sicuras like these sold on eBay in the $57 – $80+ range on auction, used with no original boxes. Assuming they work when wound (check the day and date operation) and are overall as clean as they look in your pictures, if they were mine I’d put each up for $98 or so on a BIN. They might sit for months but you might get it. I tend to shoot low so others might say go with $150. If you do an auction and start low you could end up giving them away for $20 so I would avoid that. Searching sold ebay listings for “17 jewel swiss automatic wrist watch” should give you a flavor of your competition.
Stains and smells don’t come out well. It was noticeable to me coming from top loaders all my life and having a sports-playing teenage boy to test the limits. Pressing the extra water and extra rinse buttons helps but makes for a really long cycle and it’s still not as good as our previous top loaders. The slimy dirt that is often left on the inside of the door is nasty. And the clothes start to go rancid really fast if you delay at all in pulling them out. The top loaders have scrubbing action with the agitators and it’s now apparent to me that it makes quite a difference.
Here is the actual Supreme Court opinion: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-494_j4el.pdf
With the level of commerce on the internet that we see now it was only a matter of time before the physical presence test (“Quill”) fell. States tried the honor system whereby the recipients of online goods were supposed to pay use tax, but that didn’t work.The South Dakota law, as Steven says, only applies to businesses with at least $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions in the state. With Quill gone, the Court went with what they call the Complete Auto test that drops the physical presence part but leaves substantial nexus. The Court specifically said that the SD law’s $100K/200 transaction threshold met the test of substantial nexus.
But there’s one more test for laws out there, and that is: No state law may unduly burden interstate commerce. Unfortunately the Court dodged a holding on that test specifically because that issue wasn’t before it, but then the opinion goes on to say that SD’s tax Act in question includes several features that appear designed to prevent undue burdens upon interstate commerce: First, the Act applies a safe harbor to those who transact only limited business in South Dakota. Second, the Act ensures that no obligation to remit the sales tax may be applied retroactively. Third, South Dakota is one of more than 20 States that have adopted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement. This system standardizes taxes to reduce administrative and compliance costs: It requires a single, state level tax administration, uniform definitions of products and services, simplified tax rate structures, and other uniform rules. It also provides sellers access to sales tax administration software paid for by the State. Sellers who choose to use such software are immune from audit liability. But this is all “dicta” – words in an opinion that do not have the force of law.
The Court only was addressing the South Dakota law in deciding this case. Now, any state in the country can duplicate SD’s law to the letter and be reasonably safe from a court challenge. If they all do that, fine. But we probably won’t be that lucky. There will be states that adopt laws with lower dollar or transaction thresholds, or not as many features that lessen the interstate burden. Then it will be up to someone to challenge them, and since the big online retail players are already screwed no matter what, that someone will have to be small businesses. I think that’s why four of the Justices dissented, saying that that the easy physical presence test should stand unless Congress wanted to change it, and then Congress could be specific about all the messy details to make it fair for small businesses.
We are stuck with a front loader washer in our quarters. They look nice, big and fancy, but are awful for their intended purpose.
Never hurts to spread some good karma. The guy owes you now – 0 feedback bidders can’t be blocked as a group so a whole new world of buying power on eBay has been opened up for him.
My list is pure escapist. Recently I’ve been working my way through Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series and everything Elmore Leonard ever wrote. I’ve been switching back and forth to draw it out but will finish out both authors very soon and have to find something else.
Thanks for your great video Steve!
The vast majority of military patches are worth little. Even ones worth more tend to be long tail. There are thousands of collectors, but millions of patches. Many have been reproduced, and still are, so for most modern patches any attempt to date them is purely a guess. I’ve had this Egyptian Air Force Squadron 78 Cairo West patch for probably 30 years. I bought it for 50 cents at a gun show and put it on my table for $5. I had it out for numerous subsequent shows with no interest. It then sat in a junk drawer for a while and missed countless donation runs purely by accident until I pulled it out to be part of a large lot of patches I put on eBay at auction starting at $9.99 a while back, but got no bids. So it went back in the junk drawer. I pulled it out recently to check prices and lo and behold there is some interest. So up it went for $39 plus shipping and it did not take long to sell to a guy with “F4E” (the aircraft depicted on the patch) in his user ID.
https://imgur.com/NxwiK8M
This unused OEM Mopar kayak roof rack was an indy thrift store find at $3. It first sold to a guy in Brazil earlier this year. He paid $90 for it plus $57 shipping for Priority Mail. (I ship direct, not GSP.) After about 4 weeks he started emailing me to demand his item. I checked tracking for Brazil Correios on AfterShip and learned that it was waiting for the buyer to come in and pay the import duty on it. The buyer and I went back and forth – he just kept demanding his item and I just kept saying he needed to go pick it up and pay the duty. He was starting to get pretty testy about it until tracking showed it was being returned to me and all of the sudden he was nice, apologizing for not being able to pay the duty and asking about a refund. I promised nothing but eventually got it back in one piece so I refunded his purchase price but not the shipping he paid (I was not charged for the return shipping), minus a restocking fee. I put it back up and took a best offer of $70 plus shipping just a couple weeks later.
https://imgur.com/a39Gibd
Apropos of the discussion on smalls elsewhere, these silver tone “Buy Sell” cufflinks are an example of man-friendly small items that sell well for me. There’s not a lot of money in many of these types of items, but if I can get them for a $1 or so like I did this set, it’s worth it, and packing takes less than a minute. I can’t sell women’s jewelry to save my life. It just sits and sits. These sold for $18 plus shipping after a month or two listed.
https://imgur.com/YI9ZUNc
No long story behind this 1920 electric percolator, but it’s a neat item. I’ve had good luck with old kitchen and household entertaining items. I paid $5 for this at a flea market, polished it up and it sold for $49 plus shipping. I tested it on a GFI outlet and sold it as fully functional, but said in the listing that it was sold for display purposes only and that anyone who used the electrical functions of the item did so at their own risk.
https://imgur.com/A18HM4b
