OFFICIAL EBAY THREAD! Post your finds, sales and PROFITS :)

[Iron Patch]

Do not do ebay much anymore since they starting requiring paypal. When I sold off my Japanese militaria collection I got $497 for a rifle sling I had paid $3 for at a gun show. I had about $30K of Japanese Militaria I sold on ebay over about a 6 month period of time. Some I lost money on some I broke even on some went really well. I now sell most of the cool stuff I find on gunbroker.com fees much lower, no paypal and I have never had an item kicked off. Once had a stock for a .22 rifle kicked off ebay 3 times even though they said in the rules it was okay. That really makes me upset. Did just sell a Rolex on Ebay for $2909 that I paid $350 for but the fees between ebay and paypal were about $350 and I paid a expert $50 to authenticate it for me before I even considered listing it.

It takes money to play! My fees associated with selling online are insane, easily equal to everything else I spend in a month, but at the end of the day the only question that needs to be answered is.... Is it worth it. Your Rolex is a perfect example of that, and you certainly shouldn't dwell on the expenses you incurred when the profit margin was still extreme. Ebay is the place if you have a lot of items and need a lot of traffic, but if you don't, then of course there is other options available. As soon as I'm done typing this I'm going to pay at least $500 in fees in advance just so I won't have such a crushing bill hit me once the 15th of next month rolls around, but I do it because to me it's worth it.

 

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[boristhespider88]

I bought a small collection of 1909 wheat pennies (lot of 5) for $3, just sold one of them for $3.50, and have 3 more of them listed. Also sold about $25 FV in Ikes for $60. Also sold 2 sealed Blu-rays that I got on clearance for about $15 (I paid $5.50).

 

[Ursus]

I was at a neighborhood garage sale that was doing well for me. At one of the houses, there was a lady that pretty much selling everything at eBay pricing BUT I saw this bag of 7 casino chips. They were all 25 & 50 cent chips and I recognized most of the names. She said I could have them for 50 cents. I tried a couple of times to find these chips but could not find the exact ones. Finding one that was similar for 9.99, And knowing that they were not in the best condition, put an auction on the at 9.99. Within 15 mins, I had an opening bid and an email that he would give me 50.00 if I pulled the auction. Ended up going for 187.50! (Which all my sales had a 37500% return!). Talking with the winning bidder - who had me go over how I got them in detail so he could tell his fellow collectors - had planned for the auction to go in the 300 - 400 range. I don't know how these old chips made their way to the hills of Southern Ohio, but I really wish I had spent more time on the research!

 

[0121stockpicker]

I'm interested in listing on eBay (have only bought so far). I've seen a few of you mention fees. Can anyone tell me the fees associated with eBay and PayPal ( seems like you have to offer PayPal). Thanks for any help.

 

[jerseyben]

I'm interested in listing on eBay (have only bought so far). I've seen a few of you mention fees. Can anyone tell me the fees associated with eBay and PayPal ( seems like you have to offer PayPal). Thanks for any help.

Listen... Most people on here have no problem offerring help to people who are buying and selling, including selling on ebay. It comes up as a topic of conversation all the time.

Please keep this in mind, many people have spent years learning how to do this stuff. Asking a question like "what are the fees" is insulting. This forum is not an ebay help desk. An appropriate question would be something like, "what are some good keywords to use when selling Fiestaware?" or "which patterns of silverware sell best on ebay?".

 

[Indian Steve]

I just sold a 1970 Ducati Desmo 450 for $6000. Paid $400 for it.

 

[05tbowner]

I have a lot of yard sale scores that I have flipped on ebay. I started when I was about 13 (am 22 now), including a mechanical paper and cardboard Santa. The base of the thing was wood with paper that looked like bricks, and coming out of the chimney was a paper Santa head, that went back and forth, ran with a clock movement, and the eyes moved back and forth, too. Was about from the 1880's. Paid $5 sold for $600. Then a few years later I saw MY Santa in an upcoming Christmas sale with an auction estimate of $2,500 to $5,000.

Bought a Parker pen for $10 and sold for around $700. Bought a Rolex for $8, sold for $300. And another Rolex I bought OFF of ebay for $80 and sold it when I received it ON ebay for $1,500. And actually just bought this belt buckle for $10 at my job (work at an antique store). I thought it looked pretty cool, and figured if it wasn't worth anything, I would just keep it. Well, the last two like it sold for over $800.

This is mine:
Kieselstein Cord? Sterling Silver Alligator Belt Buckle Large 3.5" x 3" 5.31 toz | eBay

 

[Iron Patch]

I'm interested in listing on eBay (have only bought so far). I've seen a few of you mention fees. Can anyone tell me the fees associated with eBay and PayPal ( seems like you have to offer PayPal). Thanks for any help.

Pretty much any question you have can be found under the A-Z index.

eBay help: A-Z index: A

Fees.

How fees work


Paypal takes about 3%.

 

[jerseyben]

I have a lot of yard sale scores that I have flipped on ebay. I started when I was about 13 (am 22 now), including a mechanical paper and cardboard Santa. The base of the thing was wood with paper that looked like bricks, and coming out of the chimney was a paper Santa head, that went back and forth, ran with a clock movement, and the eyes moved back and forth, too. Was about from the 1880's. Paid $5 sold for $600. Then a few years later I saw MY Santa in an upcoming Christmas sale with an auction estimate of $2,500 to $5,000.

Bought a Parker pen for $10 and sold for around $700. Bought a Rolex for $8, sold for $300. And another Rolex I bought OFF of ebay for $80 and sold it when I received it ON ebay for $1,500. And actually just bought this belt buckle for $10 at my job (work at an antique store). I thought it looked pretty cool, and figured if it wasn't worth anything, I would just keep it. Well, the last two like it sold for over $800.

This is mine:
Kieselstein Cord? Sterling Silver Alligator Belt Buckle Large 3.5" x 3" 5.31 toz | eBay

Impressive scores! I would have passed right by that Alligator belt buckle myself. What kind of parker pen did you sell? I have a Maxima that I plan on selling soon.

 

[SCdigger]

My BEST Ebay flip/score...

Back in the day...when you could make "real" money on collectibles on Ebay...I bought and sold a ton of NASCAR memoribilia. On any given day, there may have been anywhere from 800-1000 items listed in the entire "Racing" category...but today, there are usually 10's of thousands listed...anyway...

I bid on a auction simply listed as "Autographed NASCAR Posters". Description said, 3 autographed Nascar posters. That's it. No pictures...I rolled the dice and took a chance for $14. Heck, at least I could sell a common driver autographed poster for about $15 ea. I figured I could make a "little" money.

Posters arrived: 1 Morgan Shepherd auto'd poster (got my $15). Ken Schrader (got my $15)...but the third poster was a 1987 Winston Select poster autographed by all 20 drivers, which included deceased drivers Tim Richmond (no, it wasn't the x-rated version, haha), Davey Allison and Neal Bonnet. Of course, it was also signed by the likes of Dale Earnhardt (still living when I purchased/sold it), Richard Petty, Bill Elliott, etc. etc.

Got a cool $750 for the poster...but dang, I wish I still had that thing today...but the goal was to make a little money.

 

[drbecker]

I still find bargains on ebay things that are in lots and not described. My favorite story was in the beginning about 97 or so an item listed as a Japanese brass shell no pictures. Cost was like $20. When I got it, it was a fired flare casing. When I sold my Japanese collection I got $300 for it with out even having to list it. They are very scarce and in the 20 years I collected Japanese I only found 3. Lately I have been searching lots of gun parts and accessories. Some can be very good but you have to accept that some of the items pictured will be no good. Got a couple lots this year that netted me hundreds of profit each lot since the items were not described and they were in great shape. Some items not even pictured that were killers. Also got several lots that looked good and the good stuff was broken or otherwise ruined. Ebay fees can eat you up though and low dollar items to me are not worth even listing. I will not put something on ebay that I think will bring less then $50. I still hate paypal and it is always scary to me when I get a big payment through paypal. Try having your credit card billed $3400 because the buyer complained about the item you sold. Happened to me on a $2800 Rolex, I agreed to refund $600 to pay for cleaning when I tried it paypal billed me the $2800 plus the $600. They had frozen my account at negative $2800 and as soon as you try to make any use of paypal after that they ding your credit card on file. I know another person who sold a Rolex for $5000 to England. The guy refused it because he wanted them to pay the import duty and was upset they would not lie on the customs form about the value and call it a gift but wanted it insured for $5K. The paypal account was frozen for 4 months then they got the watch back and agreed to the refund. Another reason I do not do exports.

 

[greengold]

Bought a box of old Heddon lures off craigslist, paid $100. Made around $500 on ebay.

 

[05tbowner]

Impressive scores! I would have passed right by that Alligator belt buckle myself. What kind of parker pen did you sell? I have a Maxima that I plan on selling soon.

It was a Parker 51 Vacumatic double? jeweled. It was dark reds and black. Beautiful pen, had no idea what it was worth. Jumped from $76 to $700 in the last few seconds. Another score I had was I bought a few thousand salt and pepper shakers. The elderly woman I bought them from said they all had mates and they were all in perfect condition. Some were from the 1840's all the way to the 1950's. Anyway, bought them for $500, got home, and not ONE pair in the bunch. Called the lady up, told me tough luck and hung up. Joke was on her, when I was surprised the first 5 I sold grossed over $5,000, and the rest made probably another $8 or $10k. Still have a ton of common ones left, too.

 

[2Minnesota]

Nice finds and profits on the resales!

I bought a Barry Kieselstein Cord alligator belt and sterling buckle for $2 at a thrift store and sold it on eBay for $300. The auction ran a couple of times before the right person found it... I thought I was getting a sterling buckle for $2, but researched it before scrapping it!

 

[jerseyben]

I just posted my first ever "junk drawer lot" last night starting at .99 cents. Not even 12 hours later and it is already over $20!

 

[Iron Patch]

I just posted my first ever "junk drawer lot" last night starting at .99 cents. Not even 12 hours later and it is already over $20!

There's many buyers on ebay that can't resist taking a shot and hoping to get lucky, and I'm no different. But I probably wouldn't throw much money down on a pure blind shot, there's got to be at least some value, and a hint it could be good. For the most part I've done very well but every once in a while I'll have a real stinker roll in and make me ask myself what the heck did I just do.

 

[jerseyben]

There's many buyers on ebay that can't resist taking a shot and hoping to get lucky, and I'm no different. But I probably wouldn't throw much money down on a pure blind shot, there's got to be at least some value, and a hint it could be good. For the most part I've done very well but every once in a while I'll have a real stinker roll in and make me ask myself what the heck did I just do.

I guess I did it "wrong" then. I spelled out all 60 items in the lot with descriptions and pictures and everything. No surprises.

 

[Iron Patch]

I guess I did it "wrong" then. I spelled out all 60 items in the lot with descriptions and pictures and everything. No surprises.

After about 12 years the one thing I've learned is there's very often no rhyme or reason why things do better or do worse on any given day. So now having a pretty good idea of the value of the items I sell I focus more on volume, but there is some strategy to it... it's sort of like creating a blue print that works, and just keep doing it as much as you can.

I can't imagine listing all 60 things on an auction. I can't even think of anything I could sell that I would go into that much detail and not just let the pics do the talking... even if it was something over 10k! (well ok, maybe, depending)

 

[dejapooh]

I went to an estate sale and for the first time in a long time bought some stuff. I found a really nice mexican Sterling silver bracelet, art deco style with one broken pin (will cost about $5 to fix it), I paid $40 for it. It weighed 1.41 oz. so I am ahead a bit on Silver alone. I also bought another piece of Mexican Silver for $8 (broach).

I will upload pictures later.

 

[TreasureHunters]

PICS PEOPLE!