drcomm
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posted on September 24, 2003 11:07:24 AM new
I love it here. I have lived a lot of other places, including overseas while in the military, and the most important lesson learned from those experiences is that THIS is where I want to live 
Sorry for derailing the topic of this thread..
Deana
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sanmar
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posted on September 24, 2003 02:48:25 PM new
It snowed here once a long time ago. Having lived in MN, SD & IA, I hope the only snow I see is on TV. No more -35 & snow up to my butt.
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paloma91
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posted on September 24, 2003 08:55:31 PM new
Just got off work WHEW two jobs can be a pain. Fluffy, sure I think they will all fly. I'll just put out the word and they come. For some reason I have "regulars" at my garage sales. Kind of cute. They meet, they talk, catch up on things since they saw each other at my last one, buy a few things and leave.
I have just the idea who will buy your stuff (giggle) I wish you could watch it all in action. This will be fun. Can you make it for Saturday? I can't do sat and sun. Only on saturday Is that do-able Fuff???
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Damariscotta
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posted on September 25, 2003 04:08:57 AM new
Sorry to bring this back on topic, but I think sales in the antiques shops (at least here in New England) have been dead for the last couple of weeks. Not surprising, with end of summer, people back to work/school catching up on stuff. Here it picks up again as the leaves change color, and people are out on the road poking around.
But aside from these seasonal fluctuations, I am still curious about how well sales of non-essentials will do on eBay for the forseeable future. As I have posted before, the stores here are almost giving away merchandise. It seems as though the world is saturated with inventory.
Maybe I am lucky to live in New England, where you just about see a mall from every house now. Last night, went shopping at one of our chain discount stores (TJ Maxx). Got a lamp shade for 13.99 that I didn't want to buy when I saw it in the lamp shop for 65.00. Bought a large pottery vase for 7.00. Even if I saw these on eBay, I wouldn't have bought them, since shipping would have been far more than the cost of the items.
We also have a chain of stores "The Christmas Tree Shops" selling all sorts of small housewares and accessories. Always busy, because the stuff there is cheap.
I really don't know how eBayers of these kinds of thing can compete. Are most of the customers from outlying areas without shopping?
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CBlev65252
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posted on September 25, 2003 05:17:00 AM new
My sales have been rather slow this past week. What I have sold I've had to file NPBA's to receive payment for. I'm a bit tired of filing them. While I'm sitting here waiting payment or some form of communication, they are bidding away on other auctions. If you haven't guess already, these are mostly newbies. I used to be sickly sweet over it, but I'm not anymore. Pay up or don't bid!!!
My guess on the slowness is the cost of school. I spent a small fortune on school clothes and supplies for my grand daughter. Now, we have school pictures coming up and several field trips planned.
Cheryl
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neroter12
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posted on September 25, 2003 08:24:52 AM new
Cheryl:
My sales have been slower than I had hoped for, too. Is it just me (sometimes I wonder the way I list,) or does it seem to go in spurts? Also noticed I seem to get a bunch of buyers from one state CA, PA, NJ, etc. in clusters, almost like? Anybody else? Always picques me as odd.
Damarascotti:
If you spend the time though, Ebay does have some good deals. I agree its easier and less for shipping etc., to go to the store and buy the item and many places are overrun with strip malls/shopping centers. But buying and selling on EBAY is fun. (At least I think so.) I was never a big catalogue person, but I do look forward to getting something in the mail with a personal touch to it. (haha...shows how much of a life I have! - but I also think retailers have seen EBAY take a chunk out of their market and have compensated for that as well.
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Damariscotta
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posted on September 25, 2003 08:36:39 AM new
...but I also think retailers have seen EBAY take a chunk out of their market and have compensated for that as well.
...
I am sure this is a big part of it, but I am concerned that it is making us more and more frugal (not necessarily a bad thing) for us personally, but not good for sellers.
As another example, there was a small tablecloth on the final clearance counter. Wasn't really shopping for one, but thought, if cheap enough, I can use it. Decided 9.99 was too much. Now, I have tableclothes that probably paid far more for, but this seems to have lowered the price I now have in my mind for a tablecloth. If I saw it on eBay for 9.99, I might have bought it (and paid shipping). Now I wouldn't be happy unless I found it on eBay for 4.99. If there are many people like me, that doesn't bode well for sellers.
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drcomm
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posted on September 25, 2003 09:31:08 AM new
But Cheryl is right. There *are* some good deals to be had, and I think that's what keeps the bidders around to some extent. For some people, it's the thrill of the hunt.
A good example: bought both my son and myself a violin. There's a seller who bought out the remaining stock from a German factory and is selling instruments that are as good if not better than the student grade ones my local store sells for $700. Got these for $90 each with shipping. My son's school music teacher is buying 10 of them.
Then there's the underwear thing. These are kmart underpants, for heaven's sake, and I sold them for retail price. But people buy on ebay for reasons other than price. In this case, it was probably so they could do it privately. But there are also home bound people, people without credit cards who can't by from retail websites..lots of reasons.
I think the problem isn't so much that the bidders aren't out there as it is there are just a lot more sellers than there used to be.
Deana
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on September 25, 2003 01:09:49 PM new
paloma: Not sure about Saturday. I'll have to see if my truck is running; it's been parked in the driveway for about a month. It may need work, and if so, Saturday will be difficult.
Gotta run; off to see a man about leasing an office suite.
Our motto: Bright and shiny baubles for persons with low impulse control.
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paloma91
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posted on September 25, 2003 10:36:16 PM new
Fluffy, You HAVE to come. I just spoke to the people that Will buy your stuff and they are ready to come over and shop on saturday. If you want, I'll bring my pickup over and get it for you! All you have to do is tell me how much you want for what (Your lowest prices) I will get you the best deal ever with these weeners. Let me know by Friday night. You see I want your stuff here so it will bring in the buyers. another person down the street is bringing her grandmothers crystal, chairs and some other stuff.
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MAH645
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posted on September 26, 2003 06:42:39 AM new
Last week was a good week for me,this week sucks.
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on September 26, 2003 02:28:02 PM new
paloma: I'll bring some stuff over tonight, probably later rather than earlier, will coordinate by email. It'll probably just be the tip of the iceberg but at least it's a start.
Thanks.
Our motto: Bright and shiny baubles for persons with low impulse control.
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paloma91
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posted on September 26, 2003 04:48:07 PM new
Fluff email or call me.
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on September 27, 2003 10:50:54 AM new
Okay, so where are all you Bay Area Vendions, anyway?
Stuff is selling like snocones on the Fourth of July up at Paloma's palatial mansion.
Heck, I left and came home just to gather up more!
This morning you missed: Vintage fashion hats, pink depression glass, sterling flatware, old sterling jewelry, new sterling jewelry, bags of good vintage costume jewelry, Minton Rose china, gold-banded glassware and more.
Heading back there now with: etched crystal stemware, lots of china (including a set of Lenox ivory and gold), more jewelry, model trains, hatboxes, furs, more more more.
Be there or be somewhere else.
Our motto: Bright and shiny baubles for persons with low impulse control.
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stopwhining
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posted on September 27, 2003 10:54:36 AM new
time to raise taxes on the rich californians!!
-sig file -------The thrill is gone!!
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AuctionAce
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posted on September 27, 2003 12:14:58 PM new
Sound like possible BS to me.
At first I thought it said Stuff is selling like scones on the Fourth of July up at Paloma's palatial mansion.
Hot, fried, bread dough would be hard to sell on the 4th of July.
-------------- sig file ----------- The Fluffster --- a true scrounger
[ edited by AuctionAce on Sep 27, 2003 02:14 PM ]
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paloma91
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posted on September 27, 2003 05:32:07 PM new
Auctionace, Acutally Fluffy wasnt BS'ing. It was true. She came up with her stuff. Everything she had listed here in this post and in less than 30 minutes it was all gone! GONE - ZIP - SWOOSH, empty space (except for the money) The rest of the day was spent with me filling up that part of the tables with my stuff until she came back with more! I put my stuff next to hers and even my stuff went at higher prices than I tried to sell it for over and over on Bee Bay
I told ya' there are alot of wannabes here that would spend the money to wanna sell on bee bay (giggle) it was so so so fun to watch
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MAH645
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posted on September 28, 2003 03:03:58 PM new
The price of silver is up so that don't supprise me any. I remember I worked at a store back in the 80's and the price of silver and gold went up and I never saw so much stuff being sold in my life. This wasn't a crap store like Walmart or K-Mart either.
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stopwhining
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posted on September 28, 2003 03:22:15 PM new
if you think silver price has gone up,what do you think is going on with gold?
i was pricing gold chains yesterday at costco and they have gone up!!
-sig file -------The thrill is gone!!
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on September 28, 2003 06:13:18 PM new
I think Paloma is on to something: The real money is to be made in selling stuff to would-be eBay sellers who have no clue what things are going for in that online marketplace. It was very educational watching them point and choose..."I'll take that, and that, and that..."
Next time we do it I'm taking a lot more silver. And no books.
Our motto: Bright and shiny baubles for persons with low impulse control.
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AuctionAce
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posted on September 28, 2003 07:45:53 PM new
Books are mostly dead on ebay and even at flea markets and garage sales. I figure a lot of the books that are listed on ebay at a buck are just sellers dumping their book inventory. Even hard-to-find and rare books are tough to sell these days.
I'm glad you guys did well on the garage sale. There are so many "I'll give you a dollar" buyers out there that it's nice to hear a succes story once in a while.
-------------- sig file ----------- The Fluffster --- a true scrounger
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paloma91
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posted on September 28, 2003 10:18:49 PM new
Oh how I wish you could have all been there to watch. I was having so much fun. "OOOH this is antique!" or I don't know how old this is. HUMMMMM They would swoop it up like vultures. You should have seen their eyes. One lady bought so much, she had to go to the ATM and come back. No, make that three of 'em. When I told them we were going to hold one next saturday they went wild. (giggle) I guess i will have entertainment for myself on saturday hahaha I am thinking of roping it off this time so those wierdos dont try to park there anymore.
This will be the last garage sale of the year for me. I HAVE to move it all. So all of my cheap stuff, my stuff that has had too many runs and reruns on Booh Bay, stuff from the closets etc are all going to be out there.
See Fuffy, I told you it was fun watching the wannabes! I remember when I was the same way. swoop swoop
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AuctionAce
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posted on September 29, 2003 12:17:21 AM new
I remember a couple of years ago at the flea markets. I'll buy this and put it on ebay, it'll be an easy seller. Then everyone got into the act and now 90% of that stuff is completely unsellable on ebay because there is a lot more supply than demand. The only items that now have any chance on ebay that may be purchased at a flea market are unusual collector's items. And those items are few and far between at a flea market and even when they do appeear the sellers have often researched the items on ebay to price them.
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
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gfs23
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posted on September 30, 2003 08:54:57 AM new
E-Bay has been like one of those huge ocean oil tankers that take 10 miles to stop, it started slowing down quite some time ago
and at one stage during the summer I thought (as far as I was concerned) it had virtually come to a standstill. 3 or 4 years ago I think 95 percent of my stuff sold and that has gone down to 20 percent at times. I Only wished that there were alternative sites to sell on....well I know they are there in theory but you know what I mean.....
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AuctionAce
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posted on September 30, 2003 09:02:33 AM new
The listing fees will eat you alive at a 20% selling rate. I think the ebay stores are seeing so many store items being listed ( at least 6 million ) because of the inexpensive listing fees there. I use to relist most things that went unsold on ebay but now most of those items go into my ebay store. Another listing fee versus a nickle a month. ( plus you can save the regular auction relist for an item that has a very good chance to sell ).
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
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neroter12
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posted on September 30, 2003 01:51:16 PM new
Ace, do you get hits/buys at your store??
I wouldnt mind letting some stuff sit awhile, if I thought it might sell eventually.
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AuctionAce
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posted on September 30, 2003 02:16:34 PM new
The stores take a month to show on search engines and my store is only a month old. The posters on 'the other board' have it down to a fine science how to get their stores on Google. Someone that was bidding on an auction item and bought two store items last night. Those were the first store sales.
If you've never had an ebay store before the first month is free ( $9.95/month for basic store ) and with the free store listing promotion for the next three days a seller could fill a store with items and cancel on the last day and not pay a cent to ebay other than possible FVFs on sold items. Sounds like a heck of a deal to anyone curious about the stores.
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
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paloma91
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posted on October 3, 2003 05:13:28 AM new
ok, it's final ! The very last garage sale of the year will be happening this saturday! I am so burned out on non selling on Ebay. Things have slowed down too much for me. Maybe I should have taken the summer off. Who knows.
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antique519
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posted on October 3, 2003 03:38:45 PM new
I thought about kicking a guy out of my shop this week. He had never been there before and is an ebay wannabe. He kept asking if I had anything to sell for about $10.00 that he could sell on ebay and make money. I had already told him that I sell on ebay - doesn't he think that I would list it if I thought there was any money to be made? He about drove me crazy cause he stayed so long and told me the same thing over and over.
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paloma91
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posted on October 3, 2003 05:35:58 PM new
antique519, Maybe he thinks or feels you are too "high class" for something as lowly as ebay (giggle) Seriously, if you have a high priced looking store, I bet that is the reason he said that. Don't be too hard on him. He is just an Ebay "WANNABE" hahahaha I am starting the giggles now so I can be warmed up for tomorrow. I can't wait. The only problem is that it is looking pretty chilly outside. I hope it warms up tomorrow
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