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My favorite scavenge last week was a 1971 McLane lawn edger with 2 hp Briggs & Stratton engine for $20 at an estate sale. Doesn’t look very nice but there is much potential for parting out and the vintage horizontal drive engine is especially desirable. They’re used in minibikes, go-karts, and for all kinds of things. Plus, working on old mechanical things in the garage is my happy place.
For the week ending 10/15:
Total items in Store: 309
Items Sold: 12
Gross Sales: $579.28 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $407.69 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $118.01 (including consignment commissions)
Highest Price Sold: $125 (Kenmore Washer Drive Motor – free shipping cost me $17)
Average Price Sold: $48.27
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $46
Number of items listed this week: 39My sales picked up last week, finally, but it is costing me in promoted listing fees. Regarding my highest dollar sale, the plastic outer tub in our old washer had cracked so I bought a used one on eBay to install. Unfortunately, the seller just threw it in the box with no padding so it arrived broken. Old plastic is brittle. It took over a week to arrive and the washer was down all that time, and that coupled with some other recent downtime for me to replace the basket drive led to my family rebelling and demanding a new washer. I suppose with 16 years of good service we got our money’s worth out of it, not to mention being able to sell the motor that almost entirely paid for a new (used) washer.
I have been reading in the news about people getting cautious about spending.
Yeah; something I heard somewhere recently reminded me that anyone who bought a house with an ARM within the last 5 or so years might be trying to put some cash away to cover higher mortgage payments coming soon. Plus, the house flippers who got short term mortgages at low rates who can’t sell now with the market where it is may be screwed if they can’t refinance. It happened to me with an investment property bought in 2003 with a mortgage that came due in 2008 and the bank would not refinance it. If everyone panics now, we’re back to 2008. There was no fundamental economic reason that the entire nation had to stop spending any money anywhere and sell all their investments in 2008 other than simple panic based on scary headline news. Until, of course, people started losing their jobs because no one was spending any money anywhere.
I was on a roll listing last week – hoping to get another good week of listing under my belt this week.
For the week ending 10/8:
Total Items in Store: 283
Items Sold: 6
Gross Sales: $223.79 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $149.20 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $62 (including consignment commissions)
Highest Price Sold: $39 (Royal Australian Navy Wash DC Naval Attache Challenge Coin)
Average Price Sold: $37.30
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
Number of items listed this week: 5Very late but posted for the sake of good order and to embarrass myself to do better.
Looks like UPS is cheaper starting at around 4 lbs.
That’s good to know. I am normally reluctant to ship items over 4 lbs foreign for fear of having to refund that much for shipping out of pocket for an INAD return, which is a big hit for me as a small seller even if I simply refund and let them keep it. Not to mention paying eBay’s commission as a percentage on the shipping, too, which will be a bigger hit for a high shipping charge. But if I thought about it there are some of my heavy items that are probably worth the risk.
If you’ve got exactly 4 lbs or less, PirateShip’s Simple Export Rate is still cheaper than any other way at $34.99 for most countries, including UK and Australia. Down at 8 oz or less, my challenge coins go to most countries for $10.99 by Simple Export.
The first pin looks like a bulbous crown to me. Perhaps religious? The second pin has the Olympic 5 rings and the two blocks of green one on each side would suggest the Nigerian teams. The sticks look closest to ice hockey sticks to me, but they’re not quite right for that and I think a puck is usually depicted flat so it might be something else. Your picture is too fuzzy for me to do it but if you open Google on your phone, click the camera icon, select translate and hover over the writing, you should be able to get something out of it. You may have to magnify or take a hi-res photo, enlarge and look at that with your phone.
Last week I only sold two items (other than a scarf that I could not find and had to cancel). This US Army Vietnam War camouflage slant pocket jacket with an 82nd Airborne Division patch is sadly the last of a lot of these shirts that I purchased a while back for $26 each. The others sold quickly and for more money, but this one took over a year to go for $75 plus shipping.
This one had an unusual variation with the officer’s rank tabs sewn underneath the collar instead of on the outside. This was done in the hopes of foiling enemy snipers who would be looking for an officer to take out, but would leave the rank available if it needed to be shown to someone. It’s rarely seen, and a bit silly actually. Some LT out in the jungle in a combat zone feels he has to able to flip up his collar to show someone he’s the boss? I think most officers if they were worried about getting sniped would have left sew-on rank off completely and simply put on subdued (black) pin-on rank if they went somewhere where they wanted or needed to have it on the uniform. The whole point of subdued sew-on rank was that it would blend in with the camouflage uniform at any distance so it was intended to be worn visible in the field. https://www.ebay.com/itm/275447628245
The other item sold was a Bvlgari makeup bag or clutch that was given out as a promotion and ended up in the family donation box. It’s been up for a couple years and sold for $19 plus shipping. https://www.ebay.com/itm/275432770469
Here are a couple interesting sales from earlier in the summer. This consignment challenge coin from USS HOPPER, a US Navy guided missile destroyer, commanded a premium because it is personalized by name from a specific Commanding Officer. Some ship’s coins will simply be identified to the ship with front and back design, some will have a design indicating it is from the Commanding Officer but without a name, and some like this one will have a specific officer’s name. The latter are usually rare because a CO can only expect an 18-month tour, and it’s not unusual for it to be shortened from that. It used to be longer but not by much. It sold for $39 plus shipping but the buyer used a 15% off coupon.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275186550058This 1960’s Afghanistan travel booklet was out of my in-laws’ estate. It was put out by the Royal Afghan Embassy in London but written in a travelogue style which makes it a fascinating look at what a westerner would experience in their travels there at the time when the Afghan government was attempting to modernize the country and attract tourists. It was in pretty bad shape and sold for $22 plus shipping on a best offer.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275163749027If the post office believes that postage is insufficient on a package, they will make the recipient pay to obtain it. This should not happen without an error on your part in creating the label or in entering the package information in the listing initially. If you changed nothing when you printed the label, then the error is probably in the listing. Occasionally the post office is wrong, but I’ve only had that happen with eBay Standard Envelope.
Total Items in Store: 284
Items Sold: 2
Gross Sales: $114.80 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $73.04 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $27 (including consignment commissions)
Highest Price Sold: $75 (Vietnam War camouflage jacket)
Average Price Sold: $47.11
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $12
Number of items listed this week: 2I sold a clothing item I’ve had listed for years that I couldn’t find last week. 🙁
I was channeling you Steven at an estate sale in digging through a box of stereo wiring and junk to find this tape deck selector and dubbing switch box from the ‘70s. Unfortunately the company that was running the sale was unimpressed by the lowly junk box it came out of and wanted the outrageous price of $10 for it, though they eventually accepted $5 to get rid of me and my ranting. It sold for $40 plus shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275468803985
Sometimes I just don’t know what will be a hot item. Apparently, a lot of people need parts for Thule brand vehicle roof racks. They were OEM on Land Rovers for a time. I had four of them from a family car recently sold and put them up individually, selling all within a few days of listing with 2 going individually for $13.89 each and 2 bought together for $12.50 each, all plus shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275459416352
Another item from that car was this OEM trailer hitch. Typical Land Rover, it’s an engineering marvel and easily detachable yet locks securely and is Class III. It sold for $380 with free shipping (cost me $20). In the $600 range new at the dealer, they usually go for more but the locking mechanism did not fully function correctly (well, it is Land Rover).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275453896078
Military challenge coins have been uncharacteristically slow and I’ve had to send out multiple offers to get them out the door but this consignment was a nice sale at full price, $148 plus shipping. It’s for the 4-star admiral Chief of Staff of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force.
For the week ending Sep 24:
Total Items in Store: 288
Items Sold: 6
Gross Sales: $519.86 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $432.88 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $18 (including consignment commissions)
Highest Price Sold: $360 (Land Rover OEM detachable trailer hitch)
Average Price Sold: $86.64
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory: $0
Number of items listed: 1I was talking with an acquaintance about my eBay adventures early last week and he said that he had some boat parts that he was trying to clear out of a storage locker. “Some propellers” and some other stuff, he said, so I said if he was interested in consigning them, I’d be happy to take a look. He replied “you can give me a dollar for it all if you want; I just want it gone” or something to that effect. So I ended up with a box of large bronze fittings and water strainers, a matched pair of 23″ reconditioned bronze propellors, a NIB inboard Mercruiser engine exhaust manifold and riser, and some other odds and ends. Initial research indicates it’s easily $1500 worth of parts. I may feel guilty and try and give him some money when the stuff sells, if I get what I think I can.
I picked up two pair of 1969 contract US Army Vietnam jungle fatigue pants at a local antique mall in NOS condition for $12.50 each. The OD green jungle fatigues are sleepers because they are not camouflage and don’t look like anything special, but the dealer whose booth I got them from should have known better since that dealer often sells militaria and usually accurately describes (and prices at eBay FMVs) their military items. I have not taken photos yet but here’s someone else’s recent listing for a pair that sold for $81 at auction:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195309727625
I will put these up BIN for more.
Total Items in Store: 291
Items Sold: 3
Gross Sales: $296.25 (including eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Net Sales: $235.56 (minus eBay fees, shipping, and taxes)
Cost of Items Sold: $109 (including consignment commissions)
Highest Price Sold: $148.89 (challenge coin for the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force Chief of Staff – consignment)
Average Price Sold: $98.75
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $60
Number of items listed this week: 22I was able to get many items listed this week and hope to continue for a couple days before an out-of-town trip to the Atlanta area.
My first impression is it’s a random design motif. The maker’s logo might be the first thing we think of today but it used to be considered gauche to put it front and center like that. I’ve never seen any Danish pottery with the maker’s mark like that, and the older it is, I think the more unlikely it is. The maker’s logo would be on the base, if anywhere.
But it also occurred to me that it might be a college logo, since alumni associations will sell things like this to put on your desk. It vaguely resembles Indiana University’s logo, for example. It’s definitely not Indiana, but if you can make out the letters you might find something. Or a fraternity. I’m getting a “U” and “II” but it’s hard for me to tell from the photo.
