Selling M&Ms collectibles on Ebay

It seems like items from popular culture are taking off lately on Ebay. This little M&M guy called Redbert Einstein was something I had never seen before so I picked him up while out thrift shopping. He just sold today for $63.50!

There are a lot of M&M items out there. Look for the dispensers, umbrellas , kites and other rare items you don't see every day. In general you never want to pay too much for items you buy at thrift shops, tag sales etc. Stay in the 3 buck and under range.

BOSTON Pencil Sharpeners

Do you remember these? Most of us grew up with them in school. They worked great, much better than the modern electric ones. Well in general you should always look for things you remember from years ago, especially if made in the USA and something that worked great. These can usually be found from FREE to a few bucks and sell up to $40 on Ebay :) Here is one I sold..

NAEF Swiss Wood Products

Sometimes, while out thrifting you just come across interesting looking things. I picked up this NAEF (made by Kurt Naef) wood soccer player guy called "Penalty" . It is currently listed on auction and up to 3 times what I paid for it with 18 watchers. NAEF products generally sell very well on ebay so keep a look out for them. They made wood rubiks like cubes, puzzle type wood figures and some pretty creative things.

Rocket Banks from the 50s Strato Bank and Astro Manufacturing

These banks ALWAYS sell on Ebay. But do not pay too much to aquire them. Prices have recently been very good (and rising). Generally, on coin bank items I break my rule of thumb and can pay up to 5-10 dollars each for them. In this case I bought 2 for about 10 bucks. I usually try to stick to my under $2.00 acquisition price but you wont find these that cheap.

The two banks pictured are the Astro Manufacturing Rocket Bank and the Strato Bank. Both are from the mid to late 50s. I listed them on auction starting at 1 cent and in the first day they shot up to 17 bucks with 8 watchers. Keep in mind most things "rocket, space, NASA, etc" have a market on ebay. It should be one of your top areas to look for things in.

UPDATE - Auction just closed - Sold for $111.00   :)

Selling Space, Rocket , Sci-fi stuff.. on ebay

I have never had any space item NOT SELL!!!! This is in 7 years of selling on ebay! My most recent addition is this album of photos I picked up cheap at a junk market while at the beach this summer. It didnt look like much at first, but when I saw pictures of rockets I was interested. With a little research and help from friends we were able to determine these pictures were most likely of a post ww2 V-2 rocket. The US grabbed this technology after the war and tested it at White Sands and other places. There were American Military jeep pics, pictures of soldiers firing guns and rocket pics. Had to have this. Currently this item is up to $31 (started at 9.99) and has 12 watchers, it ends tomorrow!

As for space stuff. Older Star trek, star wars and older sci-fi in general is a good bet. I have sold some of all this stuff. Keep an eye out for older space themed books with old prints and illustrations in them also!

Selling lots of Postage Stamps as a Non-Expert on Ebay

It has been a while since I posted to this blog which is now in its 7th year! Tonight's post is on selling postage stamps. While I had an awesome stamp collection growing up (which is now my daughters) and at that time we sought out mint unhinged near perfect stamps, the ebay market is probably not the place to get top dollar for high quality stamps and I am not an expert on grading. However, for the casual seller, who occasionally runs into all kinds of things.. keep your eye out for lots of used stamps when you can find them cheaply at flea markets, tag sales etc. I just made had an auction for a bag of used stamps which started on auction for 1 cent sell for $41. A really nice profit on this item! People use stamps for all kinds of things including even scrapbooking these days. Take some pics, start the listing low, use the words HUGE LOT if they apply and start the bidding!

Rozane Ware Pottery (Roseville, Ohio)

Happy New Year! Im now in the 6th year of this ebay blog!

At times you find things that are just so good looking you want to keep them! Of course you know those are the ones that will sell LOL. I didnt know what Rozane Ware was but found this candle holder. It was made in the early 1900s and is pretty rare. It sold for almost $100 , 40x what I paid for it. The finish was so shiny, the relief on the flower/plants so real looking. I have to say it is one of the best pieces of pottery I have ever seen. So if you see something with ROZANE on the bottom, pick it up, if its cheap enough :)

Vintage Reel to Reel Tapes, Super 8mm movies, hot now on Ebay!

After saving some lots of movies and reel to reel tapes I had for a while, I decided to check out pricing by researching them on Ebay. I was surprised to see there seemed to be more interest lately so I listed two huge lots. One lot of reel to reel 4 track tapes, another of Super 8mm movies. There is early and active bidding. You can check them out and my other items at
http://stores.ebay.com/Once-Upon-A-Bid

Just some listing hints. I have always found the best way to get active bids is to list HUGE LOTS . This attracts big collectors and even resellers . It also saves on listing costs and usually gets the sale done quickly. In my Super 8 movie lot I have Marilyn Monroe in Gentleman Prefer Blondes, Born Free and Wizard of Oz. I confirmed most of the movies by holding the film leader up to the light where you will see an etching of the movie name (in most cases). The reel to reel tapes are appreciated by vintage movie lovers and I am also selling a HUGE LOT of those. Always be on the lookout for vintage film items. 8mm , Super 8 and even slide collections from peoples personal photos. On Music items, look for quadraphonic tapes (look like 8tracks) and reel to reel tapes.

Vintage Paint by Number Paintings Almost always sell!

One item I almost always have good luck with are Vintage Paint by Number paintings. I am not sure why people collect them but they do. These are the paintings you might have done as a kid with numbers for what color to paint in. Painted ones sell best (those completed). I just recently sold the two featured in pictures here for a 10x profit over what I paid. Generally you want to pick these up for 3 to 4 dollars or less with sales prices from 15-30 dollars. Those featuring animals (horses, dogs etc) are usually more worthwhile listing.

Leather Folio Given by Shah of Iran's Wife -Flea Market Find

I have to admit, I loved this item from the minute I found it at a local flea market. It appeared to be just a leather folder, folio whatever you call it! LOL But it had some cool designs on it. I didnt really look it over well enough to see the inscription inside that said it was given by the Shabanou (Shah of Iran's Wife) and Empress of Iran. It might have been a gift given to visitors or something developed for sale there during their reign in the 70s. I paid about 3.00 for it and sold it for $50!! You really never know what you will find when you are out hunting. Keep in mind some basic things... If its unusual , different looking.. has some age to it (usually pre 1980) and especially if you have never seen anything like it or heard of it before, it is usually worth buying (for a low price , keep aquisition costs low less risk of loss on items). This item was old looking, a little dusty perhaps and needed care. I dont often touch items but had some Kenneth Cole Leather cleaner around and it worked wonderfully! I highly recommend it! IT looks like suntan lotion and I just used a little and cleaned it up safely! Take a look at the pics!

Defunct Sports Teams.. Especially hockey teams. AHL

People always think that the more popular a sports team is the more valuable an item might be. For example lots of people love the Yankee or the Red Sox or for that matter in hockey the New York Rangers. However usually big name teams have TONS and I mean TONS of merchandise available from many sources. Its in chain stores, its in sports stores, its at games, its everywhere! The best sports items to sell are often items from now defunct (no longer in business) sports teams, especially hockey teams which seem to have developed a rabid following in their day. AHL (American Hockey League) teams are especially good since the AHL served as the proving ground for many NHL players. The fans were very loyal. In New Haven , CT we had a team called the New Haven Nighthawks and there are some crazy collectors and even though they havent been around for many years people still buy their stuff. I just listed a pair of unused season tickets from 1981 which already have a bid (pictured here). I still miss going to the games myself. I have some the most highly sought after New Haven Nighthawk items including one of the only sets of all the programs from when they played the Russian Red Army team before the fall of the Soviet Union. So think SPORTS, think DEFUNCT, think AHL and especially New Haven!

Sometimes you just dont know what you are selling! 1800s Mold Greek? Roman? Religious?

Well here is an unusual item I just listed for sale. It is from the 1800s and it appears to be a mold of some kind. What was it used for? Was it just a decor item? I used Ebay's new LIKE button for facebook and popped it onto my facebook page. Some people felt it was Greek in origin others thought it looked like St Francis. I just dont know but it looks interesting so I listed it for sale. When you dont know what something is, ask around Ebay forums or groups or post it to Facebook and have your friends take a look. Cant hurt! And often times they bid on it! LOL

Selling Vintage Paperweights on Ebay- Sulfide paperweight

It has been a while since I posted here, but Im back to ramping up the sales again! I recently listed for sale a vintage sulfide paperweight. These are fairly collectible and sometimes can bring really good prices on Ebay. Usually they depict a coin, medal or person in the center. In my case it looks like it is some colonial gentleman (see pic). Paperweights in general have their following on Ebay and some sell in the hundreds of dollars. Be sure to take many pictures , especially of the top and bottom of the paperweight and describe it as best you can. Many times there wont be a makers mark so search completed listings to see if you see anything similar to help with your description.

Dr. Shrink Vintage software - Early Psychology Software

I mentioned an early psychological analysis program in my previous post but couldnt find that I posted a picture of it on my blog so I found it for you to document this for you. Early psychological analysis programs were very popular in the first generation internet user crowds and you should keep an eye out for them for reselling on ebay! I love this one! check out the pic!

Vintage Software Look for realy RPG (role playing games)...

I added a few auctions this past week. While bidding in general seems to be down from the economy vintage role playing game software packages seem to still attract bidders. I was at the local flea market, hunting through boxes of "2 for a dollar" items and came across a complete program with box called Wizardry 1 (see the pic). Its an early 80s software game which was an early pioneer in the role playing game market. Ive seen this particular game sell for good money in the past and I already have a bid and numerous watchers on it. While I was there I passed on another partial software package including some early guides for a game called Ultima 3. It would have been only 50cents but it wasnt complete. However I came home and researched it and it appears people still collect these guides so I went back the next week to the flea market and amazingly it was still there burried deep in a box! I have added a picture of this one also. Generally speaking anything with Wizards, Dragons and from the 80s should do well and you should keep an eye out for this type stuff. I think in another section of my blog I posted about an early psychology program called Dr Shrink or something. Look for those too.

Changing your mind about selling things

I think it happens to most people who sell on ebay. They wind up selling some things they wish they held on to or perhaps change their mind when they see how nice something is after taking pictures. Recently this happened to me. I posted a y2k gold pendant Ive had for a while. It was 2.5 grams of fine gold (.999) and I figured it would get some active bidding and net me a cool hundred bucks. When I posted it, after a few days of not hits at all to the auction at 99 cents, I decided I wanted to keep the item and took it down. It is not really a good thing to do often and Ebay frowns on it. In reading the description I left out an important detail I should have added so I chose the selection "error in listing" when I pulled it down. While the hits probably would have pickde up and it might have sold for a good price, I just decided it was an unusual piece that I wanted to keep and wear since I really dont have any necklaces. Now to hunt for chain! Here are some pics of this cool item.

Selling Old Banknotes on Ebay

I was reading a post on one of the Ebay boards this evening regarding paper currency and remembered I sold these Bank of New England Banknotes a while back. I live in Connecticut and these were aquired when someone was hired to clean out an old bank vault or bank storage area in he Haddam/East Haddam area. They are from the late 1800s. Please excuse the poor picture quality. These were taken early on in our Ebay career before we really did a good job with pictures. Most older banknotes do well. People look for what is called vignettes (illustrations) on the notes as well as looking for quality and or banks/places of interest.

How to post Vintage Playing cards for Sale on Ebay

In a recent collectibles board post , someone was asking about selling playing cards on Ebay. Ive sold quite a few decks of cards (and purchased some too). Collectors want to see scans of better decks of cards with enough detail to get a look at condition, pictures and graphics on the cards etc. Here you will see some examples from a deck of older playing cards from Canada. Even though the scans are good, I did mess up here! I didnt post a nice close up of the ACE OF SPADES. The Ace of Spades usually has identifying information that collectors look for , so always post a picture of it!

Back to the Past - Selling Playing Cards on Ebay

I was reviewing some old pictures and was astonished at the time I had years ago to scan in and sell playing cards on Ebay. I love older or unique playing card sets. They sell fairly well on Ebay and can often be picked up at tag sales and flea markets in bunches of decks. Just a few tips. Try to take good pictures. What worked best for me is a scan of the top of a card and a scan of the Ace of Spades as that usually has the descriptive in that card collectors are use to. Also make sure to count and see if the deck is complete and talk about condition etc. Ive sold some amazing playing cards on Ebay and even bought some. Good luck hunting!

Just a gorgeous Limoges Set Ive had from a Goodwill find..

I just wanted to put these pictures up here before I lost track of them . Every once in a while an item you find is too nice to sell (or too much work to pack and ship or both LOL). I found this set at Goodwill really cheap Ive never used it but absolutely love it! I was scrolling through some old pictures and said just looking at it makes me happy so I figured id post it to the blog here . It was one of those 1 in 1000 day finds while out. I do plan on using soon as a friend asked me about it and said you should have a nice New England dinner on that set!
Happy hunting! More ebay news soon!