Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[disneysteve]

I just turned down a $600 offer on an item I bought yesterday for $30.

It's a new old stock sealed case of 100 pieces of Lionel O Gauge train track.

I started the auction today at $150 and it's a 10-day auction. If someone is already offering me $600 that's a pretty strong indication that he expects it to go for a lot more than that.

Auction ended today.

Final price: $1,130.55!

Not a bad return at all on a $30 investment. And I've got a second box still to sell. I need to decide if I want to offer it to the runner up bidder or wait a while and then list it separately.

The auction ended up with 774 views, 80 watchers, and 46 bids.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

At an estate sale on Friday, I bought 6 brand new CUTCO knives for $20. They sold today for full asking price of $259. I swear some days it's like printing my own money.

Yesterday I drove down to North Carolina with a van load of china to sell to Replacements, LTD. I delivered it this morning. 19 cartons containing 309 pieces from 22 patterns. Assuming they accept all of it, I'll get $6,368. My cost $1,761 so a raw profit of $4,607 minus the cost of the trip which I need to add up but probably in the $600-700 range.

So what happened to the china?

[disneysteve]

At an estate sale on Friday, I bought 6 brand new CUTCO knives for $20. They sold today for full asking price of $259. I swear some days it's like printing my own money.

Yesterday I drove down to North Carolina with a van load of china to sell to Replacements, LTD. I delivered it this morning. 19 cartons containing 309 pieces from 22 patterns. Assuming they accept all of it, I'll get $6,368. My cost $1,761 so a raw profit of $4,607 minus the cost of the trip which I need to add up but probably in the $600-700 range.

[disneysteve]

You can also just do reselling to make money off of a hobby i'm sure for many people that would be cost efficient of buying and selling things they love collecting anyway

Back in the days when we were seriously collecting Disney memorabilia, it was a very common practice to buy 2 or 3 of an item, keep 1 and sell the others for a profit. The profit all or mostly covered the cost of the 1 we kept for ourselves. It greatly offset the cost of building our own collection.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Someone in one of my reselling groups looked on Worthpoint, which is a subscription service to view sold comps from multiple platforms going back many years. He found an identical box of track that sold on ebay in 2012. That one went for $900 back then. I'll certainly be happy if I get that and given how long ago that was, it's not out of the question to think that mine might bring over $1,000.

That is pretty crazy. Of course it's a collectable. But yes I agree that if you wanted to seriously turn reselling into a job you can. You can also just do reselling to make money off of a hobby i'm sure for many people that would be cost efficient of buying and selling things they love collecting anyway

[disneysteve]

Someone in one of my reselling groups looked on Worthpoint, which is a subscription service to view sold comps from multiple platforms going back many years. He found an identical box of track that sold on ebay in 2012. That one went for $900 back then. I'll certainly be happy if I get that and given how long ago that was, it's not out of the question to think that mine might bring over $1,000.

[disneysteve]

I can see now how people can make a serious living off of reselling. Also how people just really do make serious side money

I grossed $13,000 in all of 2023.

I grossed $13,000 in just the 3rd quarter of 2024.

If I keep up that pace, which wouldn't be difficult at all, I'll be grossing over 52K/year doing this as a side gig for fun and to keep me busy in retirement. If I wanted to work more and double or triple that, I absolutely could. I have no doubt that I could have 6-figure sales if that was my goal.

[disneysteve]

That's a hot item with those numbers 79 views, 24 watchers, and 5 bids already on the 1st day at $227.50. Must be exciting watching the bidders leap-frog each other. The most excitement I've had was selling a used iPhone with about 9 watchers and having bidders leap-frog each other. Agreed 10-day auction is a good call for this item. It'll give buyers who may not be very active on eBay time to see your item and may drive up the bidding on days 8, 9, or 10 when they do see your item. And good call on listing your item as auction style vs buy it now where market prices will dictate the final bid.

Now 24 hours in it has 114 views and 31 watchers. No new bids. It’ll probably be quiet until close to the end.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Steve seeing your ebay pricing and selling strategies are really brilliant. I hadn't thought anything about timing or listing. I can see now how people can make a serious living off of reselling. Also how people just really do make serious side money

[QuarterMillionMan]

That's a hot item with those numbers 79 views, 24 watchers, and 5 bids already on the 1st day at $227.50. Must be exciting watching the bidders leap-frog each other. The most excitement I've had was selling a used iPhone with about 9 watchers and having bidders leap-frog each other. Agreed 10-day auction is a good call for this item. It'll give buyers who may not be very active on eBay time to see your item and may drive up the bidding on days 8, 9, or 10 when they do see your item. And good call on listing your item as auction style vs buy it now where market prices will dictate the final bid.

[disneysteve]

10 day auction? I thought eBay only had 7 days max auctions.

Nope. 3, 5, 7, or 10. I normally do 7 on the rare occasions that I do an auction but I wanted to cast a wide net here and 10 days captures 2 weekends which can help.

it just started today and already has 5 bids up to $227.50.
79 views and 24 watchers. It will absolutely go higher. I just hope it goes higher than the $600 I turned down.

[QuarterMillionMan]

10 day auction? I thought eBay only had 7 days max auctions.

[disneysteve]

That's crazy for train tracks

Modern used track goes for $2-3/section. Vintage used track goes a little higher. Brand new vintage track is quite rare. Finding two cartons of 100 sections each is gold.

[disneysteve]

Model railroad prices jumped after 2008/2009.

it’s a very expensive hobby now and I rarely add to my collection

There are a lot of serious train enthusiasts out there with deep pockets. I'm sure the strong economy in recent years has just fueled the fire as folks have more money than ever to spend on their passions.

A couple of years ago I bought 2 vintage Lionel train sets for $250 and sold them very quickly for over $800 as I recall.

[Jluke]

Model railroad prices jumped after 2008/2009.

it’s a very expensive hobby now and I rarely add to my collection