posted on April 29, 2001 05:26:43 PM
Now here's some interesting news! Earlier (yesterday) I was complaining about the poor garage sales on Saturday. Well, I had bought one book for a dollar--looked promising, non-fiction, perfect mint condition, never read. My scientist husband's eyes got wide because he's heard of the author. So last night I listed it on half.com for $18.00 and this morning when I got up it had sold! I guess my instincts were good, to buy it in the first place. You just never know, right?
posted on April 29, 2001 08:10:35 PM
Keziak: You asked what the book was that sold so quickly. It was "Between the
Lines," by Anthony Aveni--about those strange lines on the ground in Peru--the ones
that are sometimes a mile across or more and depict humans, animals, and plants, and
strange, other-worldly objects -- all of which have not been explained--and that can
only be accurately seen from the air!!! Thousands of years old, too. Such a mystery.
Anyway, I wasn't interested in reading it but it had never been cracked open, I swear. (Until I looked through it.)
posted on April 29, 2001 08:22:17 PM
I am planning on moving in a few months so I have sworn off garage sales. I think I am having major withdrawl symptoms. My heart rate increases and I get twitchy fingers when I see the flouresent pink or yellow signs with arrows on the telephone poles and just sigh while I drive by...
The weather has finally gotten sunny and the sales are aplenty...AND I CAN'T GO!!
posted on April 29, 2001 09:09:48 PM
roadsmith: Good deal on the book, though, truth to tell there is no "mystery" about the Nazca lines in Peru. (My husband did archaeology in Peru for many years--they have figured out how the ancient Peruvians probably did them, and it took no advanced technological skill.) It's a neat subject, though.
This observation is related to garage sales. Yesterday my husband and I went "antiquing" in the Fountain Square section of Indianapolis. I was amazed at the high prices of stuff, and this is including shops that had lots of practically garage sale-level items. A battered tin measuring cup for $7, a Mickey Mouse head that used to be part of a puppet for $15--stuff like that. Plenty of people were looking around, but few seemed to be buying.
Of course all these dealers look their items up on eBay, but as someone earlier said, just because there are a few people in the world who collect such-and-such and will pay a big price for it on eBay doesn't mean someone offering that item at a garage sale or in an antique store should expect to get it. Granted, there MIGHT actually be someone in the world who wants a particular shoe for a Chatty Cathy doll, and is willing to pay a few bucks for it on eBay. But why does anybody selling such a thing in an antique shop or garage sale think he or she can get that price (with a much smaller audience)?
We DID find a large, very nice, "cottage style" mirror to put in the livingroom for $32. The shipping costs on eBay would have been a killer, so we felt we'd gotten a good deal.
posted on April 29, 2001 09:24:00 PM"You know what I could get for this on eBay?"
Hey Spaz, I get the same line up here all the time.
A few months back while at a local show a dealer had a Shawnee Howdy Doody bank for sale. When I attempted to dicker with them, they pulled the old "do you know what these sell for on eBay?" line on me.
My response, "what's an eBay?"
I got them down to $80 US [it was chipped] and sold it the following week for $370, on eBay.
posted on April 29, 2001 09:46:56 PM
Why thank you misscandle.
I forgot to mention, whenever anyone mentions the internet & eBay, I tell them I'll have to ask my daughter if she's heard of eBay, and maybe I can get her to show me sometime?
She's the only one in our family that has ever used a cumpooter.
Seriously, it aggravates the hell outta me when dealers mention what their item sells for on eBay. Just like Spaz, I'm awfully tempted to tell them to sell it on eBay if they're so damn up on the eBay prices.
Thank god they haven't started mentioning eBay at the local auctions .... yet.
I'm one of the very few regulars who buy at the local auctions to re-sell on eBay.
posted on April 29, 2001 10:56:55 PM
It is the Antiques Road Show that gets mentioned most often to us. Almost everyone that brings something in to sell has seen it on the Road Show. They must watch a different one than we do because we never see anything like what they say they saw.
So at times I just mention that I watch the show and didn't see a plate (or whatever) like they have. Then they say it was "similar" so they thought it must be about the same value.
They are always expecting to get much more than I will offer so it is useless to deal with them. Some say that they will try to get that price on a yard sale then.
posted on April 30, 2001 02:25:26 AM
My mother and two of my sisters also sell on ebay. When we get together to hit the flea markets or yard sales, our code is "Do you think Sue would like it?" -meaning do you think it would sell on ebay? (Sue being our fourth sister who lives out of state.) This works out pretty well unless Sue is in town and comes with us. Then we all get confused.
posted on April 30, 2001 10:39:47 AM
BlondeSense....we have a code too! "do you want this?" "yes, it'll go with my stuff!" or "no, won't go with my stuff".
I went to a neat sale yesterday in a very ritzy neighborhood. I picked up a half-dozen really nice coffee cups with clever stuff on the side. Have to keep our own cupboard stocked and I'm NOT paying retail of $4.50-$6.00 each! As I was paying I complimented the couple on their lovely rolling manicured woodland type yard. "thanks, except that stuff over there takes over!" he says. "I'd love to have some of it!" I reply. He got a shovel and DUG up two bags full of varigated leaf Astible for me! I don't even care what color it blooms! Perfect for my side yard, as we have a double lot and it is moderately heavily wooded. Have some nice dogbane in there now, hope it can stand the competition!
Mom, growin'- weedin'- feedin', too busy for retirement!
posted on April 30, 2001 10:42:27 AM
This was our first weekend to do garage sales and we had the opposite luck. When the car is full or we are out of money we go home. We started at 9am and were out of room in the car with lots of money left at 11!
Found:
Box of Chilton auto manuals for $5
Vintage 50's LIKE NEW set hair blower - $1
Eddie Bauer loafers new - $5
Little Tikes car new - $2.50
Turtle Lego full of legos LIKE NEW - $2.50
Propane lantern LIKE NEW - $1 with box etc.
Beautiful xmas wine glasses - $2
50's Sheet music
I could go on and on. We had no room left and only hit about 5 sales out of 20 or so listed within 10 miles of us.
Very excited for next week's sales!
The only thing I have found out is clothing is way overpriced at sales unless you can convince them to sell in lots. They list children's osh kosh etc. for $2-$5 each. No way.
>Going to practice "What's an Ebay?" with an innocent look on my face..............
Keeping a straight face when buying is one of the tricks of the trade. It's hardest when something is priced to you ridiculously cheap. (and to be able to haggle a seller of a $100 item down from $2 to 50 cents is an art! Most of the time I don't bother, I give them the $2 and leave before I start laughing...)
posted on April 30, 2001 12:07:48 PM...to be able to haggle a seller of a $100 item down from $2 to 50 cents is an art!
And also a risk- the seller may decide not to sell to you at all. Better to take the $98 sure thing than risk it all over a buck and a half (seems to me, anyway).
Last year I was buying items off eBay to sell at auction to folks looking for things to sell on eBay. The newbies (and not a few of the oldies, either) automatically believe that any item will sell for more on eBay than at a live auction. Suckers indeed, LOL.
P.S. Just wanted to clarify that not all who buy at auction to resell on eBay are suckers -- but there are quite a few. I would not count reddeer among them.
[ edited by spazmodeus on Apr 30, 2001 12:55 PM ]
posted on April 30, 2001 03:20:41 PM
Same general type of thing happened to me at a local antique street fair. A seller had a set of 75 black and white photos from 1930 of construction of an electrical power plant in Oklahoma. They were good sized and in pretty good condition. Priced at $10.00. Asked if he would come down and his reply was "No, sometimes you just know they're worth that much". I paid the $10, listed them on ebay the next week, and sold them for $55.00. Yep, sometimes you just know!!!
posted on April 30, 2001 05:01:20 PM
>Better to take the $98 sure thing than risk it all over a buck and a half (seems to me, anyway).
Yup... I once found a copy of Windows Ver. 1.03 still sealed in shrinkwrap. It was in a box with a bunch of old software, so I asked the Lady running the sale what she wanted for the old software. She told me I could have anything in the box for 50 cents, or I could have the whole box for $5.00
I dug in my pocket, and came out with a five and 2 ones, so I handed her the five, grabbed up the whole box and told my sister it was time to go....
I had to sell the old windows twice (got deadbeated the first time) but wound up with $156.00 (and tossed most of the rest of the software in the trash.)
I also once bought a old XT computer for $25 (which is about 24.00 more than it's worth) just to get a copy of Windows 1.04. That one brought $147.00, and the computer went to the landfill.
posted on April 30, 2001 05:49:30 PM
OK--Why would anyone want old versions of Windows? Is it because they have old computers that won't handle the newer versions? And if that's the case, wouldn't the old computers be valuable too? I don't get it.
posted on April 30, 2001 05:56:18 PM
Try hunting for deals on garbage day instead. I drove about five miles for lunch today and noticed that everybody must have been spring cleaning over the weekend. Piles and boxes of stuff everywhere waiting to be thrown away. If I would have had a pickup and a helper to load items, I could have loaded up big time. And it's all for free if you have the nerve to do it!!
posted on April 30, 2001 06:15:23 PM
>OK--Why would anyone want old versions of Windows?
It's Junk to me but they collect it, and Ver 1.0x windows is fairly scarce (they only show up on ebay maybe once a month or so.)
>And if that's the case, wouldn't the old computers be valuable too?
SOME old computers ARE worth good money. I got $1400 out of one I had, and I've had several that brought $200 or more. But XT's arn't worth what it cost to ship them. MOST ALL (99.9 %) of old computers are just so much dead weight.
One of the original apple computers that Steve Jobs made in his garage out of plywood is worth 5 figures. (I think he only made about 250 of them before he got financed, and started making them out of plastic )
That's hilarious! Most auctions I attend are so far out in the sticks that they're made up mostly of farmers, and hard core colletors.
eBay re-sale seldom enters the equation.
posted on April 30, 2001 07:13:47 PM
I looked in the paper last week for sales. Most of them you can tell if they are worth going by the ad. HUGE is like L@@K om eBay.
There was one add with a street address but not what city. There are adds for 3 counties and maybe 50 cities and townships in the paper. I never did figure out where the address was for. Could have been anywhere in a 20 mile radius.
Years ago (WAY before ebay) I was riding in my cousin's car when I saw a foot operated Singer Sewing Machine in a pile of rubbish. I told my cousin to "Stop the d@m car". He did, but when I told him I wanted the sewing machine, he didn't want to put it in his trunk.
I finally talked him into it, and we where loading the thing in the trunk of his Dart, when a lady in a Lincoln stopped and asked "What are you boys going to do with that sewing machine?" "We're gonna sell it" I told her. She gave us $25 (big money to Teenagers in those days) and we took it 2 blocks up the street to her house for her.
posted on May 1, 2001 04:17:11 AM
Keep it up!!!
I don't have space for a lot of large items, so I'm always on the look-out for interesting books. Payed 25 cents for something "Oz" (don't remember the titel anymore). It was a paperback with lots of illustrations. A movie studio payed $40.00 for it!!
Wish I could find more stuff like that. (Things that sell the first time around, and for eye-popping results)
posted on May 1, 2001 08:53:27 AM
> SOME old computers ARE worth good money
I used to run a computer repair shop at a school system and about 15 years ago someone donated an Altair 8800. This was the original microcomputer from 1976. Used toggle switches instead of a keyboard. It was in working order.
I had it around for a few years and ended up tossing it...
Can't find one one eBay now, but I've heard they go for $thousands.
btw, I started doing computers in 1979 and my first pooter had 4K and a cassette drive. I'm typing this on my 256 MB, 800 MHz , 32x CDROM beast... What a country...
posted on May 1, 2001 09:08:51 AM
>Altair 8800....Can't find one one eBay now, but I've heard they go for $thousands.
As long as it isn't the turnkey model(8800B), they bring $1800 to $2500
I've been looking for one at yard sales for years, and havn't found one, but...
[ edited by Microbes on May 1, 2001 09:10 AM ]
