olivia11dancer
Jr. Member
- Jan 27, 2011
- 21
- 1
I let the auction finish. The phone sold for over 1600.00 Moral of the story..if people start making offers on something you've listed. They are trying to buy it cheap. Let the auction run its course.
What have been your biggest ebay surprises?
- Thread starter clovis97
- Start date
famous turtle treasures
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I don't suppose you have a picture of that phone still do you? I know it was a long time ago.
Just in case I come across one
Just in case I come across one
olivia11dancer
Jr. Member
- Jan 27, 2011
- 21
- 1
No, it was 7 years ago..and that computer is long gone. Sorry They do make replica's of the phone I will see if I can find a photo of one and send it to you.
- Thread starter
- #24
GibH said:
My best friend has a copy of that tape. His copy is ex-library...he went to every library sale at our local library, twice a year, looking to buy that tape. It is a very hard to find tape. It was highly sought after on a Mellencamp fan site many years ago.
If you are into Mellencamp, that really is a great tape of his work. It features that classic Mellencamp sound and still has the original band members that made that music so great. Larry Crane, Toby Myers, Kenny Aronoff, etc.
Can anyone say "thread drift"?
olivia11dancer
Jr. Member
- Jan 27, 2011
- 21
- 1
Thanks..my phone was my biggest profit to date, but it certainly wasn't the biggest or the best item I've sold on ebay. My best story involves a 1968 Allis Chalmers D21 tractor (not a toy) sold on ebay.
olepossum
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i am looking for a pair of chrome ape handle gars from a 70s bycycle for my son he has a orange county chopper schwinn he wants to put ape hangers on it
olivia11dancer
Jr. Member
- Jan 27, 2011
- 21
- 1
Sure..it's a great story with a wonderful ending. A friend of mine was getting a divorce. He called me one day asking if I would list his tractor on ebay. His tractor was a 1968 AC- D21 and he had purchased it from his father when he first started farming. His dad had taken care great of that tractor and so did the current owner. It was still all original. He talked with other farmers that frequented local farm auctions trying to get a estimated value for his tractor. He was told it was worth 5000.00 if it sold locally. That's when he decided to give ebay a try. He really didn't want to sell his tractor, but he felt he didn't have a choice due to the divorce and because of that, he put a 10,000.00 reserve on it. We sat here and watched the bidding all week on that tractor..It was especially fun during the final few hours of the auction. I remember he would just want to keep looking a the photos of this tractor. He was very attached to it..I suppose it brought back many fond memories. I felt bad for him. His tractor sold for 12,800.00 and went to a AC tractor museum in the Carolina's. He was no longer sad about selling his tractor..he thought it was wonderful that his tractor was going to a place where she will never have to work again and she will be admired by all. I'm sure some day he will visit his tractor.
My Precious
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An item from years ago that opened my eyes to the potential that ebay had was a small black bisque baby doll that I had found in a box of books at a garage sale. The doll had a red and white checked homemade dress and pig tails made of a thin rope. I never had looked for dolls or knew anything about them but could tell it was old. I bought it for $2.00, put it out for $9.99 hoping to make $5.00. A bidding war ensewed between 2 people and it sold for $157.50, the people were so happy to get a great deal they couldn't thank me enough....I've been selling off and on ever since.
Nightowl 280
Full Member
Best returns from buys from ebay
42 bronze medallion from the society if medalist paid 35 bucks for the lot got $1000+ when all was said and done .
Art deco tin Fireplace cover $.50 sold for $85 bucks ( Skinny almost naked girls sell )
N guage Train buy $200 bucks netted $950 bucks (about 105 cars/ 10 engines ton of odds and ends )
Table of Jewelry $5 netted $250 after i sold the gold and silver jewelry and then netted another $30 bucks out of the $1 jewelry bin i run at the fleamarket (Ive done stuff like this 5-10 times since then )
4 sliver bars/rounds $5 bucks got $70 for them . (pays to know British marks since they where all british marked )
bronze Lincoln bookend $5 bucks sold for $75
French perfume lot paid $30 sold one bottle for $328 back to France .
10 Waterford Flutes or stems $25 Sold 2 Flutes for $110 (lost the rest to my mom grr )
2 pins Daughters and sons of the american revolution $3 bucks Sold for $118
For every good buy i have 6-7 bad buys . I cant begin to count the broken worthless or over priced stuff we have bought in the last 4 years but in the end we are way ahead so all is good . I could donate all my fleamarket and ebay stock right now and not have lost a penny doing this fun little collecting and reselling hobby . For the most part 80-90% of what i buy and resell i get 2-4x return on investment . We started to do this to support my moms garage sale habit . In florida its all year round and she was going out 2-10 times a month . So we looked at how to make some profit while we either hauled her ass around or to support her buying of stuff and not filling the house while doing it . I can say its been fun interesting and at times challenging to learn and pick the right stuff to resell and that will actually not get taken by my mom . If you are going to really play the game knowledge is key and very dangerous if not used right . Also a willingness to walk away helps . Ive pulled my dad and mom away from bad overpriced buys because the margin wasnt right more times then i care to think about . The resell market has changed alot in the last 2 years . We have had to change the way we buy and the pricing we are willing to pay for items because of it . Keeping a Idea on the market and its trends is key .
42 bronze medallion from the society if medalist paid 35 bucks for the lot got $1000+ when all was said and done .
Art deco tin Fireplace cover $.50 sold for $85 bucks ( Skinny almost naked girls sell )
N guage Train buy $200 bucks netted $950 bucks (about 105 cars/ 10 engines ton of odds and ends )
Table of Jewelry $5 netted $250 after i sold the gold and silver jewelry and then netted another $30 bucks out of the $1 jewelry bin i run at the fleamarket (Ive done stuff like this 5-10 times since then )
4 sliver bars/rounds $5 bucks got $70 for them . (pays to know British marks since they where all british marked )
bronze Lincoln bookend $5 bucks sold for $75
French perfume lot paid $30 sold one bottle for $328 back to France .
10 Waterford Flutes or stems $25 Sold 2 Flutes for $110 (lost the rest to my mom grr )
2 pins Daughters and sons of the american revolution $3 bucks Sold for $118
For every good buy i have 6-7 bad buys . I cant begin to count the broken worthless or over priced stuff we have bought in the last 4 years but in the end we are way ahead so all is good . I could donate all my fleamarket and ebay stock right now and not have lost a penny doing this fun little collecting and reselling hobby . For the most part 80-90% of what i buy and resell i get 2-4x return on investment . We started to do this to support my moms garage sale habit . In florida its all year round and she was going out 2-10 times a month . So we looked at how to make some profit while we either hauled her ass around or to support her buying of stuff and not filling the house while doing it . I can say its been fun interesting and at times challenging to learn and pick the right stuff to resell and that will actually not get taken by my mom . If you are going to really play the game knowledge is key and very dangerous if not used right . Also a willingness to walk away helps . Ive pulled my dad and mom away from bad overpriced buys because the margin wasnt right more times then i care to think about . The resell market has changed alot in the last 2 years . We have had to change the way we buy and the pricing we are willing to pay for items because of it . Keeping a Idea on the market and its trends is key .
diggummup
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Did it look like this one that I have?j.raud said:
colorado14ers
Bronze Member
i havent sold it yet, but its a french carriage clock that i paid 18 bucks for at an estate sale and on ebay they go for 80-100 bucks(non-working) so im planning on selling it soon 
vwayne1
Hero Member
A few years back, I bought a 69 Honda z50 motorcycle (mini offroad bike) for $150.00. I ended up parting it out for over $1500.00 within 2 weeks on ebay. That was fantastic. Another time, I had been looking at this diving vest in a pawn shop for months. He wanted $80.00 and I was offering $50. He wouldnt take it until one day I was buying an expensive rifle, I said " Can you give me the vest for $50, since Im spending that much on the rifle? He took it. I put it on ebay, the next day, I get an offer from a guy in Hawaii for $150. I accept it, but he has a problem getting his paypal to work. So I let the auction finish. It went for over $350!! Lesson learned. Im a diver, and I guess I should have known the value of it, But that was way more than I thought it was worth. .
My Precious
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Hey that is very similar to the one I sold! The arms and legs were connected to each other by string that went through the torso. Wonder what the going price is for one of them now, I sold mine quite a few years back...I've been an ebay member since '94 so I'd say late 90's I sold it.diggummup said:
billjustbill
Bronze Member
famous turtle treasures said:When I first started selling on ebay I had 3 flawless one dollar bills that I got in some in some change somewhere. Something was off about them, and I didn't know why I was holding on to them. I looked at the serial numbers and they were sequential numbers #6, #7, and #8 of 2006. I sold them for $600.00
Your luck and ability to sell those one dollar bills got me to thinking...
What would you think that a full page of "Uncut" $2 bills, Federal Reserve Notes, in a sequential numbering would bring on Ebay?
I'd appreciate your input.
Thanks,
Bill
LM
Hero Member
I did it full time from 1999-2001. That was the real golden era of ebay...
Internet had just started to get 'common' in homes and the "new" ebay medium triggered some sort of freak impulse in people that was flat out maniacal. We collectors can be an odd breed sometimes, but the collectibles world really shifted when ebay came about and for those couple years, people were burning money left and right. Ebay was the single greatest market disruptor the collectibles field has ever (and will ever) see. For a short window, the prices of "stuff" hadn't come down to reality yet from their 'Price Guide' days and people were going insane over the new-found ability to buy random crap from the comfort of their own living rooms.
I can't even count the number of times I bought something for less than $5 and had it sell for over $100. After a while, I had gotten so good at it that there were a couple months where I made a significant profit selling stuff on ebay that I had bought on ebay (rebaying)
Some of my better scores:
$6000 on a shoebox of belt buckles (sold one at a time)
Had a few modern first edition books go for over $1K that were all purchased for under $1 at garage sales, etc.
Had a few pieces of art sell for a lot. Bought a framed display of civil war relics that sold for about three grand.
The funniest had to be a small childrens book from the 1960's.
Apparently it was scarce, but not particularly 'valuable' (bear in mind, this was in the early days before Amazon sold used books, ABE.com/Powells weren't very well known). I purchased a grooup of these kids books for a few bucks at a garage sale and two women went absolutely ballistic in bidding on this one stupid book. It sold for $501.99. The woman who wound up buying it told me that she had it as a little girl, couldn't find another and wasn't going to be outbid. Today, I can find that very same book for $3.
There's still a buck or two to be made, but it's *n*o*t*h*i*n*g like it was in the early days. I was a pretty young guy back then, but still printed money at will. If I knew then what I know now, I could've made $100K a year, easily.
People finally caught wind of how much money was being made and the sellers came out in droves, right at the same time when the novelty of the whole thing wore off and there weren't that many people left paying ridiculous prices for stuff. All this, plus the ability to get "good stuff" for dirt cheap at garage sales, flea markets, thrift shops, etc declined enormously once ebay became standard and everyone learned how to use it. I eventually gave it up but still, even today, I could probably make $25K a year doing it if I did it seriously but the old days of ebay, man, they were some GOOD old days
Internet had just started to get 'common' in homes and the "new" ebay medium triggered some sort of freak impulse in people that was flat out maniacal. We collectors can be an odd breed sometimes, but the collectibles world really shifted when ebay came about and for those couple years, people were burning money left and right. Ebay was the single greatest market disruptor the collectibles field has ever (and will ever) see. For a short window, the prices of "stuff" hadn't come down to reality yet from their 'Price Guide' days and people were going insane over the new-found ability to buy random crap from the comfort of their own living rooms.
I can't even count the number of times I bought something for less than $5 and had it sell for over $100. After a while, I had gotten so good at it that there were a couple months where I made a significant profit selling stuff on ebay that I had bought on ebay (rebaying)
Some of my better scores:
$6000 on a shoebox of belt buckles (sold one at a time)
Had a few modern first edition books go for over $1K that were all purchased for under $1 at garage sales, etc.
Had a few pieces of art sell for a lot. Bought a framed display of civil war relics that sold for about three grand.
The funniest had to be a small childrens book from the 1960's.
Apparently it was scarce, but not particularly 'valuable' (bear in mind, this was in the early days before Amazon sold used books, ABE.com/Powells weren't very well known). I purchased a grooup of these kids books for a few bucks at a garage sale and two women went absolutely ballistic in bidding on this one stupid book. It sold for $501.99. The woman who wound up buying it told me that she had it as a little girl, couldn't find another and wasn't going to be outbid. Today, I can find that very same book for $3.
There's still a buck or two to be made, but it's *n*o*t*h*i*n*g like it was in the early days. I was a pretty young guy back then, but still printed money at will. If I knew then what I know now, I could've made $100K a year, easily.
People finally caught wind of how much money was being made and the sellers came out in droves, right at the same time when the novelty of the whole thing wore off and there weren't that many people left paying ridiculous prices for stuff. All this, plus the ability to get "good stuff" for dirt cheap at garage sales, flea markets, thrift shops, etc declined enormously once ebay became standard and everyone learned how to use it. I eventually gave it up but still, even today, I could probably make $25K a year doing it if I did it seriously but the old days of ebay, man, they were some GOOD old days
I bought a 1970s schwinn touring bike at a garage sale for $20 sold it for $500. I bought a box full of vintage bar stuff for $7.50 sold for $150. My best was a box of vintage jewelry at an auction for $5, got $50 worth of silver, $50 for a collectable christmas bell ornament, and $300 for a vintage marked costume jewelry necklace.
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