rarriffle
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posted on March 20, 2004 07:42:57 PM new
do you remember your first BIG ebay sale? the unexpected one that got you so excited?
mine was a pair of cufflinks that i had purchased a couple of years earlier in a $5 box lot at an auction. they sold for $277.00 and i almost fell off my chair watching the bidding go up. that was a few years and over 1000 sales ago.
just a fun time thread since garage sale season isn't here yet.
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sanmar
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posted on March 20, 2004 07:55:09 PM new
Yes, it was about my first year. I purchased on eBay a partial set of Royal Crown Derby china for $1600.00. I resold it for over $3000.00. This was from a divorce settlement. Each party got half of the set.
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replaymedia
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posted on March 20, 2004 07:55:51 PM new
My first big sale was my first sale, period. I had some old display racks that I wanted to clear out of my store.
I listed them in our local classified paper and had no luck for several weeks. So I tried that new eBay thing. The next thing I knew a guy bought them for double what I had asked n the newspaper and drove a truck nearly 500 miles to pick them up.
I thought that went pretty well so I decided to try some other close-out store stuff on eBay.
Several years later, I did away with my store and now sell exclusively online.
Complain about eBay's rates all you like, but you don't know overhead until you've run a "real" store!
-------------------
We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing -- Anonymous
There is no 'T' in Chess
Games of All Kinds - Replaymedia.com
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wrightsracing
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posted on March 20, 2004 08:07:42 PM new
I am still waiting for mine...LOL
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toasted36
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posted on March 20, 2004 09:17:42 PM new
Mine was a WWII medal I bought at a estate sale very late in the day....they'd already started packing up the stuff....the lady gave me a half box and said grab whatever you want and I give you a good lot deal. So I dug around in the bottom of some paper bags with a lot of paper work in it and found 10 or 11 small things and she said ahhh 2.00 for all of it...ok sounds like a deal! Came home and the medal had a piece of paper under the paper backing it displayed on that told me what it was for and when the guy got it and his name etc etc.I listed it and got 378.49 for it not bad for a .20 item ....I bought my Sony Mavica with it.
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Fenix03
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posted on March 20, 2004 09:26:46 PM new
I don't remember a single big sale but I have had a few surprising ones. In the early years there was a set of six action figures that I used to pick up for $15 at a local swap meet. I sold about five of those sets for over $200. Other figures I used to get for $1 or $2 would also go in the $30 range, some for as much as $50. When the first of the new Star Wars trilogy came out I could pick up bootleg pewter figures (yes, I did point out the spelling discrepancy in the hallmark) which regularly sold above what the licensed pieces were going for. My most recent surprise was a figure I found in astorage bin that had originally gone for $25 but was never paid for. When I found it and listed it again a couple years later it went for over $200 and the payment came in within 2 minutes of the end of auction.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
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OhMsLucy
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posted on March 20, 2004 10:10:34 PM new
These weren't the biggest but certainly unexpected.
One was a Dukes of Hazzard enamel belt buckle with the Confederate flag on it. Cost me a quarter at the thrift. Sold for over $250. The winner sent me $50.00 money orders every week until he got it paid for.
Another surprise was an old Union 76 ball cap and antenna ball that went for $65. I don't remember what it cost me but it couldn't have been more than $0.50.
Amazing...
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sparkz
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posted on March 20, 2004 10:11:09 PM new
The first sell I made that took my breath away was on a Hallcraft individual casserole that I picked up at the swap meet for 33 cents (it was in a 3 for a dollar deal). I thought it was fairly new, but it turned out to be a futuristic design by Eva Zeissel from the early 50's. I listed it and could not believe it when it closed at $33.00. My wife and I have joked ever since about the 10% profit I made on that deal 
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
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Roadsmith
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posted on March 20, 2004 10:14:35 PM new
A ratty little blue booklet a neighbor was throwing away, 5 or 6 years ago. Dirty, smudged, 16 pages, an on-air booklet for a 1925 radio station in Chicago. Boring, b&w pictures of the factory that made the cable for the station, etc. Put it on the discard pile, picked it off the discard pile--several times. Decided what the aitch, I'll list it at $7.95. Sold for $125 to a man with a bed and breakfast/radio museum in a little Indiana town. He was thrilled. Had a sample of the cable but nothing about the Nutro-Wound Company. He planned to duplicate the booklet to sell in his museum and display the original booklet open to page of factory pictures, next to the sample of cable.
And three Desert Rose trivets, in the rare round size (but who knows these things while shopping at a thrift shop?), bought for $5 for 3 of them. Sold for $130, $110, and $90 (the latter had a fleabite chip on the bottom).
We all have stories like this, don't we? It's what keeps us going, the fever of Ebay selling! The gamble, the crap shoot of collectibles that may not be real collectibles, things we know nothing about until they're sold!
I currently have two old books, not particularly rare, I'm selling together, started under $10. They are up to $207, with a day yet to go. Books about a dog named "Beautiful Joe." (Anybody know anything about these??)
Go figure. . . .
___________________________________
Have you noticed since everyone has a Camcorder these days no one talks
about seeing UFOs like they used to?
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stonecold613
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posted on March 20, 2004 10:47:14 PM new
Mine was a trailer hitch. Brand new in the box. It was being tossed out because the box was damaged and could not be returned to the manufacture. It went over $200.00. And I never looked back from there.
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blueyes29
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posted on March 20, 2004 11:04:20 PM new
Mine was an old book...1865...in MINT condition with 55 original drawings by Cruikshank. My friend had bought it from the estate of her Priest for $5.00 about 20 years ago. It sold for $865! That sale started me on the consignment path...I thought "If one of my elderly friends has old "stuff" they don't want any more, I'll bet others do too". And they do...and not just the elderly friends. I still get a kick out of it all...Fun thread too!
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mcjane
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posted on March 21, 2004 12:44:50 AM new
About 25 years ago I bought a Noritake art deco six piece figural condiment set, mint condition. I paid 20.00 for it & sold it about three years ago on eBay for 835.00
I also bought a book, The Stray, written by Betsy Wyeth & illustrated by Jamie Wyeth.
It was autographed by both & Jamie hand drew, in sepia ink, one of the pictures from the book on the title page.
I paid 200.00 for it & about four years ago I listed it on eBay.
When the bidding reached 3000.00 with a few hours to go I cancelled the bids & the auction. I know it was wrong, but I regretted listing it. I still have the book along with another book, Christina's World, autographed by Andrew & Betsy Wyeth. I paid 65.00 for this one.
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neroter12
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posted on March 21, 2004 07:48:09 AM new
My biggest surprise was on two taco bell dogs. I know people collect them. I think I paid .50 cents at a garage sale, and figured ah, maybe get a couple bucks from them....Well, the timing sure hit good because two people went into a bidding war on them and I wound up with 45.00. That really surprized me! The bidder who won told me she had been trying to purchase some and kept getting outbid and just decided it was not happening this time!(I had the hardest time not feeling like a rip-off for taking her money,though!)
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Libra63
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posted on March 21, 2004 07:55:29 AM new
Mine was a book from the library sale. Sunday was fill a bag for $3.00. I had over 40 hardback and paperbacks in the bag. One book sold for $362.00. I just went to the Library sale again a couple of weeks ago and purchased a cookbook for a $1.00 and it sold for $31.00. Well it is spring. The start of the rummage sales again. Not to warm here yet but at least our snow is gone.
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amber
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posted on March 21, 2004 08:01:15 AM new
Mine was an old Movie magazine. My husband thought I had overpaid when I bought 5 of them for $8 each. The first one sold for $104, the rest for a total of about $60.
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rarriffle
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posted on March 21, 2004 08:18:59 AM new
ah yes amber, i love it when my hubby shakes his head at my purchases...he thinks i am certifiable!
paid $1.00 for a box of old computer stuff that looked ready for the trash..according to hubby anyway.
it got bids totalling over $100. for all that old atari and commodore comuter JUNK..thank you very much!
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bizzycrocheting
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posted on March 21, 2004 08:27:59 AM new
I love to look around at some auctions right on ebay and sometimes I'll see something that isn't marketed right. I have purchased a couple that have really surprised me. One I purchased for $1.99 and sold for $30.99 and another I purchased for $3.00 and sold for $26.91. Ya never know!
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hammerchick
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posted on March 21, 2004 09:11:07 AM new
The very first one was a Delft tile I paid 20 cents for and sold for $75. After that there was a Victor talking machine with morning glory horn for $5 which I sold for $190. (Their neighbors were having a yard sale, so they thought they would put a few things out on their driveway out of the attic). Rummage Saler's dream! There was a Hermes scarf still in the box I paid $5 for at a charity sale and sold for $250. Another funny one was a Cher doll (MIB Bob Mackie dress) I bought for $5 at a country auction, everyone scoffed at it but I think I sold it for $90 or $100 on Ebay. There were lots of other dealers there and so it made me feel good that I recognized that bargain and they didn't.
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stopwhining
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posted on March 21, 2004 09:17:10 AM new
i sold an item which costs me 7 dollars for over 700 dollars.
it turns out to be item not as described,so buyer returned the item for full refund.
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
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classicrock000
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posted on March 21, 2004 09:44:54 AM new
OUCH
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cherishedclutter
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posted on March 21, 2004 11:20:06 AM new
My most surprising so far was a Lefton angel figurine. I got it in a box lot. My main interest in the lot was a Heidi Shoop planter. Everything in the box ended up costing me about $1.00 each.
The planter sold for $36, but the figurine sold for $78.
Biggest single sale so far was a piece of ironstone. I bought it for $9.00 at an auction and sold it for over $200. (It wasn't a surprise though, I knew it was a desirable form).
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marcn
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posted on March 21, 2004 11:40:55 AM new
My most memorable sale was back in 1998. It was a beanie baby my daughter had traded with a friend. She knew it was a good one and wanted me to sell it on eBay for her. It was an "Old Face" Cranberry Teddy and it sold for $880! My wife felt guilty about the whole thing and gave half the money to the parents of the kid my daughter got it from. They were very happy to say the least.
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parklane64
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posted on March 21, 2004 11:53:54 AM new
I bought a bunch of photo negative strips at a mini-storage auction for about $40. I am talking boxes of thousands of them. The wife still has her doubts, even after I got over $800 for them.
My buddy had an old oil advertisement sign, about 3' X 5'. I didn't feel it was worth the effort, but he listed it anyway. When he sold it for $1600 I felt like an idjit.
Sold the 'wheel cap' to a super-fortress, once. This is the emblem that goes where you would put a car horn. It came in a box of junk and I got $80 for it. I now know that it was worth much more, but a collector that would take good care of it got it. He sent me a magazine of interest to me, as a tip, that probably has a value of $40 to $50. He plans to donate his collection to a museum when he passes on. You meet great people on eBay, too.
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pelorus
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posted on March 21, 2004 08:54:29 PM new
I had about 500 car ads from magazines in the 20's and didn't know what to do with them. Started selling them on eBay in 2000 when you could still get decent money for them. Three for Rubay automobiles sold for $50 each.
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cta
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posted on March 22, 2004 07:31:02 AM new
My best sale was a few years ago...when eBay was going gang busters. I listed a leather-bound book dated 1801 on the history of Virginia and it fetched $650. Best part, I only paid $1.00 for it at a yard sale. I still have about 20 of the full leather books dated from the late 1700's and early 1800's. I only wish I'd listed them all a few years ago as prices have gone way down on some of them.
"The right to be heard does not include the right to be taken seriously." ~ Hubert Humphrey
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rom8
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posted on March 24, 2004 03:38:12 PM new
My 1st big sale was an old sapphire colored Fire-King glass baby bottle nip cap (nipple cover) ... my sister had found about a dozen of them in the early 70s at an old pharmacy. She gave me several. I decided to try and sell one in the early ebay-days ... got $250. Made my day! I had 4-5 more!
My last was several Ben Johnson Roping & Cutting belt buckles by Gary Gist. We bought several over the yrs at charity events for about $50-75 each. I sold 4 of them this month for nearly $2000.
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