posted on June 9, 2001 09:17:29 PM
I am new to all of this. Just getting my feel, ya know what I mean, so I don't know if its hot or not!
So today, I pull up in this fancy-smanchy neighborhood. The people were soooo stuck up at the sale! IT was all brand name items but the pricing was horrendus! So there is a double stroller, I know Peg Prerego (sp) is an expensive item, but I also thought (like a lot of other things) its value probably is cut in a tenth used on ebay. So I ask the lady how much the double stroller I thought she'd say 40 bucks or something.(is. She haughtily say 150.00. I practically ran outta there thinking, "what idiots, they'll never get that price and its probably worth 30 bucks on ebay! WRONG I WAS! I come home, do a completed items check and find even the crappy ones are 190.00==this one was mint, I probably could have gotten 250 or more! I was sooo pissed. I could have maybe got her down a little bit. And what a perfect place to buy-your average crowds of garage salers aren't looking for 150 dollar deals!
I did the same thing last week with a pack and play. She was selling it for 12 bucks and I figured "who would buy it on ebay, too hard to ship" WRONG! It is going
for 30! or more. Oh well, this ever happen to you guys?
posted on June 9, 2001 09:20:14 PM
This has happened to me too many times than I care to think of. Makes me sick when I think about it. Just try to feel better knowing we've all made this mistake.
posted on June 9, 2001 09:24:36 PM
This happens to me all the time!
I was at an estate auction once where this lady was on her cell phone. I eves-dropped and it turned out she was talking to her 'partner' who was looking on his computer (probably ebay) and getting prices of things she was describing to him via phone. She only bid after he confirmed its value.
[ edited by Malady on Jun 9, 2001 09:25 PM ]
posted on June 9, 2001 09:28:52 PM
Get used it! eBay is all new and hot, but the bottom line is you are learning an old trade! Your getting your feet wet, it's only the start! Good Luck & remember to FORGET the $ you "lost" and remember the lesson!
Did I type that out loud???
Thanks so much for your post. It makes me feel good that I'm not the only idiot that leaves items behind!
Just yesterday I saw a miniature Stetson hat in it's cover for a buck. I debated and debated and finally left it thinking "Who would want that?". I came home, looked them up on Ebay and they go for $40-$50. I kicked myself several times. In fact, I'm still kicking myself. I also left behind some vintage troll items including a troll shack that goes for $45. It was marked $10. From now on, I am sticking with my instincts!
posted on June 9, 2001 10:52:53 PM
It is almost a never-ending vicious circle though Once you feel you learned something, there is still infinite possibilities. Like last week, the pack and play had some rust staining and so I figured "no one would want this" cuz I usually sell clothes on ebay and I know they have to be mint. So I passed on it only to find that yes, in the Playpen-ebay world, it is okay to have stains! See what I mean, you'll never know to you do a check and there are countless items and situations. a lot of times, I buy super super cheap from stores or I see a freak item super cheap (I got baby lulu dress for 6 bucks at fields once--for those of you who don't know the kids' auctions, watch out these thing rake in 60 bucks an outfit)--anyway, so with those things, I can always return, but with a garage sale, what if it is really junk. LIke I would have never chanced it with that stroller, it is a small fortune to have to eat.
On the bright side, I saw a perfect cabbage patch doll at a thrift store, and I hadn't even thought about cabbage patch kids and whether they sell or not before this. I just picked it up on instinct thinking "oh well just a buck"---then I did the check, okay, so it isn't going to let me leave my day job, but they get anywhere from 10 to 20 dollars-- I paid a dollar.
I am going back to the sale tomorrow, problem is, I forgot if it is a one or two day sale. I am going to make her an offer. The good thing is, I doubt garage salers are interested in this high-end stuff. Oh, and my husband said the same--to call him while I am out! We'll see what I pass up next week
[ edited by saweemosman on Jun 9, 2001 10:57 PM ]
posted on June 9, 2001 10:59:05 PM
I didn't know cabbage patch dolls did well. I had entered a contest when they first came out years ago. I won 2. One we opened (a premie) and my son played with it. The other (curley haired boy) is still in its box with birth cert too. Hmmm...
posted on June 10, 2001 01:00:57 AM
LOL! Been there, done that.
Tooooo many times.
Passed up on a bedspread that sells for over $100 on ebay (could've had it for $20, in perfect condition, in it's BAG). Passed up on a collectable plate that goes for $70 and up. Passed up on a ... well, it's too painful to keep reminding myself! ROFLOL!
I just focus on the good things. An old lamp that I paid $1 for, sells for $45 and up. A comforter set that I bought for $30 sold for over $100.
posted on June 10, 2001 01:58:24 AM
This is how you get educated on buying and selling. They do not have a school to learn to buy and sell used items. You learn from your mistakes. It could have been worse. You could have purchased an item for $150.00 and found out it sells for $50.00
posted on June 10, 2001 02:06:06 AM
I have a neighbor who has an entire garage filled with junk.
Everytime I tell her to call Salvation Army, she laments, "You know what this is worth on Ebay"?
It'll take the rest of her life to post it all and yet she continues to accumulate and hoard because something sold for alot of money on eBay at one time or another.
posted on June 10, 2001 04:36:51 AM
I've had those happen too - I think "no, who would want THAT!?" and come home to find out "Plenty of people!". I've also thought "That would be great! It should bring a good bit!", only to learn that it is not.
The thing I have learned is that if I think it is pretty/nice doesn't necessarily mean that the buyers think the same. Oftentimes if I think the thing is hideous, it brings mucho bucks!
Another poster said that we are just learning, I just think of this as a constant learning experience - but it is fun sometimes isn't it?
posted on June 10, 2001 06:15:56 AM
Before my Mom died I would call her on the cell phone to price things. Now I am going to get fast wireless later this year and I will be able to do a search in the car if I have questions about an item.
posted on June 10, 2001 06:22:02 AM
I seem to have the opposite problem I buy the item Just knowing I will do really well then I look it up and there are 15 with no bid's.....
Just a thought but did you go back to see if she still had it ?
posted on June 10, 2001 07:37:37 AM
I have done this too, but just remember that there will always be a diamond in the rough somewhere else soon. That is the cycle of the market. You win some, you lose some. You just have to win more than you lose.
Also, I have found that the tackier and uglier that I think an item is, the more it tends to sell for. Hmmm, do the people who love that kind of stuff have the bad taste or is it me with the bad taste? It's all relative I suppose.
posted on June 10, 2001 08:00:11 AM
If she's firm on the $150, I'd probably pass. You state you could probably get $250 or more. While the initial $100 gross profit sounds good, after you take out your fees, etc. It's not that great.
Better to tie that $150 up in small items that sell for 4-20 times what you pay for them.
I used to think that if I could double my money on eBay, the item was a good deal. After some calculations, I've decided that minimally, I have to be able to get three times what I puchased it for (on large dollar items) and more on the small ones.
You need to look at the worst case scenario before you buy it. What do you need to open it at to get bids? If you only get one bid will the profit you make have been worth it? If you have to put a reserve on it, will you have made as much money for the effort if you have to relist it?
I'm not saying this is definitely a no-go for you. If after looking at all sides, you decide that the profit is worth it, go for it! (But try to get her to sell it to you for less than $75 ok?)
posted on June 10, 2001 10:03:43 AM
I agree with Sadie
Pass on it and buy 30 cheaper items with the $150. You'll probably do better profit wise. Of course it's more work too.
I used to occasionally pay $500 for a thing that I knew I could sell for $600. While it's not horrible business to make a quick $100 (less ebay fees), there are much better ways.
I like to buy a large lot of items from a single seller for a negotiated price. If you did your figuring well, you can sell a small portion of that lot to get your initial investment back, then you can start working on profit.
I don't mean to discourage you at all, but it takes time to learn buying and selling. And you'll make some mistakes along the way. If you have the desire to, getting into an antique mall will help you. When I started in malls I was clueless. I thought I had "good" stuff! LOL! It did take me a few months to start to get the hang of it (what to buy, what not to buy, how to price) and then after that I became one of the more consistent sellers in the mall. You could do the same thing.
posted on June 10, 2001 10:06:16 AM
Also, wouldn't trying to ship a double stroller be a pain in the you-know-what? Getting a box to fit it, properly packaing it, and hauling it to the post office/ups drop off point?
can't think of anything in particular that i've passed up, and knew about it. i'm sure are tons of things i've passed up and *didn't* know about though! i shudder to think of all the things i've walked right past, or looked at and hadn't a clue.
i love reading the threads about the weekly finds. they always amaze me. often i'll find myself thinking either 'what the heck is that?' or 'but who would want that?' many people here have knowledge of such a wide range of items. it just amazes me.
sure would be great if we could pool our knowlege. we'd be invincible garage salers and thrift shoppers
posted on June 10, 2001 02:15:08 PM
THe person who said" what if you bought at $ 150.00 and then it was worth $ $50. you would have felt worse ~ YES! been there and done that one! I try and buy cheap! cheap! and if is a non item bring it back/
Also when I am pricing I do high to low but infact often items don't go for the high! so you have to be very careful if you are spending ( in my case) more than $ 10.00!
I have often bought something ~ looked it up and found that item wouldn't sell but I learned that another item would sell and sure enough I would sooner or later come across an item that would sell. ( a book by an author~ than book wouldn't sell for a high profit but he/she has one or two that will sell high~ all in a name sometimes with children's books )
I think on amazon seller board~ some one wrote~ your profit margin is what you paid for the item and then what did you sell it for!
If you paid $ .10 and sold for $ 5.00 or $ 6.00 that is a nice profit. If you paid $ 50.00 and make $ 75.00 that is still a nice profit! I am still looking for that $ 300.00 book ( whoops just found it ! on ebay ~ description poor ~ took a chance and bought it ! listed to itself on d/j ie first edition nancy drew!!! a keeper for me!
I think I learn more by my mistakes than I do by success but success is more fun!
posted on June 10, 2001 02:24:44 PM
AntiqueParrot hit the nail on the head. Shipping big items can present some problems.
Last month at an auction I purchased a really cool shabby "but" chic old farm house green (vintage), screen door with the really old type screening that has vertical screen lines running up and down. It had neat architecture and all. Got it for $8 - I was thrilled.
Only problem is finding a box to ship it in, so I haven't listed it yet.
posted on June 10, 2001 02:43:03 PM
I would pass on the stroller.........now I did just ship a double jogging stroller ~ that I made $65.00 on ~ but I spent two hours making a box for it and getting it shipped ~ I also made $20.00 on a toy box that it took me an hour and 1/2 to ship. In the same time frame I can ship 30 or more regular packages.....and make lots more money ~ because of this I have sworn off big items unless I can clear much more money.
posted on June 10, 2001 05:15:15 PM
A couple of years ago I was at an auction looking for items to sell on ebaY.
I saw the add in the paper and was looking for old books and prints.They had listed in there old prints of birds by C.Hulmandel.
Well I went down there looked over and normally I would call my wife on the phone and have her check on ebaY to see what the items might be worth.
Well I could not do that that day as she was at a graduation party I was due to attend a few hours later.
The prints where of Hummingbirds and the auction house a little mom and pop had listed them wrong in the paper.They gave the print manufacturer not the artist.
The artist was a John Gould who at the time I had never heard of before.they where about 130 years old,large hand colored in decent frames.
There where about 8 in all and 5 where perfect and the other 3 had some browning and spotting.
Another women was interested in them and I had no idea as to there worth at all.
Anyway it was me and her and the really good ones I let her have at 130.00 each.I had no idea if that was good or bad.
I got the other 3 for about 90.00 each.On the way to the graduation I wondered if I had over paid.
So I finally got home and looked on ebaY under Gould and hummingbirds.I almost fell off my chair they where bringing between 500 and a few thousand dollars in great condition.
I more than tripled my money on the 3 I had.But could have kicked myself on the others.But it was a good lesson and I know all about Goulds now.
posted on June 10, 2001 05:34:27 PM
You people think packing up toy boxes and strollers is a pain, try boat motors. Not only are they heavy, they also have to be run TOTALLY out of gas, and they are very odd shaped.
Of course, I usually make more than $65.00 on one of them
If you are going to complain about how hard boat motors are to package then stop selling them! I am not going to cry for you especially when you make $65 on each one.
posted on June 10, 2001 06:33:01 PM
Okay guys, thanks for all the tips!
Some people had really good points, about doing the small items rather than the big ones and making the money that way. Isn't it quicker and less painless, though, to sell a 500 dollar item for 600. The fees aren't that much greater, if you start the auction at 1 dollar and no reserve. This is what I am currently doing. I have been doing the nickel dime items. Items from gymboree, gap, etc. and I am making like 5 or 10 dollars on a sale. It almost seems unworth it. What do you think? And all those trips to the post office!
Anyway, speaking of big boxes, I just had a successful playard auction (not the one I passed up--but another). Where do you get the boxes for this?
I did go back today, even though it was kind of far. To tell you the truth, I was glad there was no sale, that way I didn't have to make a decision. They seemed pretty firm on the matter. Oh well let me know.
posted on June 10, 2001 08:08:44 PM
>Isn't it quicker and less painless, though, to sell a 500 dollar item for 600
IMHO that isn't enough margin. I don't turn my nose up at a 100 dollar bill, but there is no "wiggle room" if something goes wrong. I don't want to have more than $350 in something I sell for $600. And don't turn your nose up at $20 sales, when you have $5.00 in the item, enough of these in a week and they add up.
>The fees aren't that much greater, if you start the auction at 1 dollar and no reserve.
what if eBay has a 20 minute outage just when your auction is closing. (it happened today) This is why you need "wiggle room".
>I am making like 5 or 10 dollars on a sale. It almost seems unworth it
$5.00 profit per sale isn't worth it (at least to me), unless you are highly organized, and it's almost a production line operation. I don't want to have more than $2.00 in something that sells for $10, and no more than $5.00 in something that sells for $20.00. (this is just MY guidelines for MY sales, other people may make decent money with less margin, but they have to do big volume to do it.)
>Where do you get the boxes for this?
Big boxes I have to buy. They cost me about $4.00 apiece, and I add it to the s&h. Spending 2 hours trying to scrounge a large box that is in good enough shape make it through UPS is counter productive.
posted on June 14, 2001 06:22:04 AM
>Isn't it quicker and less painless, though, to sell a 500 dollar item for 600
>IMHO that isn't enough margin. I don't turn my nose up at a 100 dollar bill, but there is no "wiggle room" if something goes wrong. I don't want to have more than $350 in something I sell for $600.
I agree about the "wiggle room" but with ebay, I'm certainly more likely to lay out more cash for an item than I would have in the past. For instance, I picked up a boxed character doll from the 1940s in an antique shop - it was marked "$300 FIRM" but the seller offered it for $250 without even asking for break! The extra $50 gave me the "wiggle room" I needed. But if this had been 10 years ago, when I was selling in an antique mall, I wouldn't have bought it at all, just because there's no telling how long that $250 was going to be tied up in the doll 'til it sold. Ebay changes all that because, if you know your inventory well enough, you can turn over a high investment item within two weeks. I ended up selling it for a little over $400 (and fortunately, it reached it's near-end price early in the auction, so I didn't have to worry too much about an outage). With ebay, that's pretty much the same to me as buying something for a dime and selling it for $150 - same profit margin. But it was a lot different back in the mall days, when I would have to fret over how long that investment would take to find the right person to turn it over for a profit.
