Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[disneysteve]

QMM post the weight bench for free in your local groups and marketplace. Somebody will come get it. Better than I’m going into the landfill.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Good advice thanks I'll try that.

[disneysteve]

Months ago I posted that I rescued a slot machine from the curb at one of our neighbor's houses while out for a walk. I had it for a while before I did anything with it but did ultimately list it on Marketplace. I aimed high with the price and have gradually lowered it. I finally sold it today for $45. I had hoped it would go for more but at least it sold so I literally turned someone else's trash into $45 cash for myself. I can't be upset about that.

[disneysteve]

Somebody who has previously bought a few bottle caps from me recently asked what I still had. I sent him photos and he bought 11 caps for $100. Direct sale so no ebay fees to deal with. Considering I only paid $10 for all of the caps in June 2022 and I've already made over $4,100 from them, this is great. That purchase just keeps on paying returns.

[james.hendrickson]

Somebody who has previously bought a few bottle caps from me recently asked what I still had. I sent him photos and he bought 11 caps for $100. Direct sale so no ebay fees to deal with. Considering I only paid $10 for all of the caps in June 2022 and I've already made over $4,100 from them, this is great. That purchase just keeps on paying returns.

Disneysteve...what makes the bottle caps valuable? I don't imagine there is much you can do with them. Are they considered art?

[disneysteve]

Disneysteve...what makes the bottle caps valuable? I don't imagine there is much you can do with them. Are they considered art?

What makes a baseball card valuable or a pair of sneakers or a doll or a figurine? People collect all sorts of things and some very mundane items become very valuable over time.

These particular bottle caps are relatively rare. They are all from the 1940s and 1950s and are in uncrimped condition, meaning they were never applied to a bottle. They came straight out of the factory.

The one that I sold for $610 last year I was told by a collector/dealer that he had never seen one like it before. The last time that particular cap came to market, there was a batch of them that had been removed from a piece of folk art and they all had a nail hole through the center. Mine was practically mint so collectors went wild. I've made well over $1,000 just from selling a few of that particular cap.

[disneysteve]

I went to an estate sale on Friday. I spent $10.

I got:
1 ream of printer paper
1 Sony microcassette player
12 4-packs of Sony microcassette tapes
4 boxes of a specialty powder cleaning product

I'm keeping the printer paper and will deduct the cost as a business expense. Retail that would cost at least $5.50 if I bought a case. Buying just one ream is more like $8.95.

I've already sold 3 packs of tapes for $22 and the player with another pack of tapes for $60. It's only been a couple of days and I'm already over $70 ahead on my $10 purchase. It's almost too easy.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

i'd love the printer paper. Why are the tapes so valuable?

[disneysteve]

i'd love the printer paper. Why are the tapes so valuable?

The printer paper is a great example of how anyone, not just resellers, can benefit from shopping estate sales. Those sales are literally selling the entire contents of a house. That includes the china and glassware and collectibles but it also includes the laundry supplies and the cleaning products and the home office items and toiletries and more, and that stuff is always cheap - typically $1.00 per item or less. A couple of months ago, my daughter cleaned her car windows and mentioned that we were almost out of Windex. I went to an estate sale a couple of days later and bought a full bottle for $1.00. It's $4.17 at Walmart.

Amazon Basics printer paper is $8.49 for one or $27.50 ($5.50 each) if you buy 5. I paid about $1.00 at the sale and it's actually better quality paper than the Amazon Basics stuff.

The microcassette tapes are over $4.00 each online. I sold 12 for $22.00 so it isn't that they're valuable. I'm just selling them for a really good price. Since the 12 tapes only cost me $1.50, selling them for $22.00 in a couple of days is a very nice return (14.7x my cost).

[disneysteve]

I've already sold 3 packs of tapes for $22 and the player with another pack of tapes for $60. It's only been a couple of days and I'm already over $70 ahead on my $10 purchase. It's almost too easy.

On 7/21 I bought 2 bottles of perfume at an estate sale for $5 each. I listed one of them and it sold today for $107.95. I'll list the other one now (they're the same).

$5 to $108 in 3-1/2 weeks. The other bottle should bring a similar price. ebay is like printing money for yourself.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

how do you find estate sales? I want printer paper and stuff

[disneysteve]

how do you find estate sales? I want printer paper and stuff

EstateSales.net

I greatly prefer their app to their website.

There’s also EstateSales.org but I don’t like their site nearly as much. CORRECTED URL

[QuarterMillionMan]

Changed my listing for my weight bench to auction style and listed it for $1, someone bid $1 and won it (no one else bidded). I'm glad that I don't need to dump it and like you said disneysteve it won't add more mass to the landfill and at least someone will put it to good use so it's a win-win.

[james.hendrickson]

Guys - I got ahold of a nice set of silver plated silverware. I'd like to sell it on Ebay. How do I start the process?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Easy, 1) open acct, 2) upload pics, 3) determine shipping cost. The shipping I find to be the hardest part. Silverware if it fits in a small flat rate box cost $8.55 (eBay price, $10.20 in-person more) but I'm guessing it won't fit and you might need a medium flat rate box $14.75 eBay Pricing $17.10 at Post (sorry bold but I copied and pasted and can't unbold now, lol). That's it. After my 1st sale everything in my household that I'm not using anymore is fair game to be sold on eBay. I've decluttered a lot.