posted on October 5, 2003 12:45:00 AM
I love to hear good news stories here. People who buy things and do well with them. Here is my latest one... A friend and sometime buying partner bought out a collection. In this collection was a group of pins from the lillehammer Olympics. I specialize in Olympic pins, so I know that those Norwegian collectors will still pay a good price for a good 1994 pin (and pay nothing for a common pin). Well this collection consisted of 26 pins. They were all Prototypes (maybe 10 or 20 of each made), one design had 2 copies, one had 3. I listed the one that had 2 copies and sold it for $40 (about 10 times what I paid). I contacted the second bidder and sold him the second example for $39. I told them both I had more, SEnt them both a picture and they started bidding against each other to get the rest of the collection. I ended up selling them all for about $30 each... Cash mailed and received today. Gotta go clothing shopping for the kids tomorrow!!! The Local Gymboree (designer overpriced clothing) is having a clearance sale... nice shirts for $4.95. gonna Stock up on 4 year old and 5 year old sizes.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. B. Franklin
posted on October 5, 2003 05:48:31 AM
I like good news stories too.
Here are my recent successes. A chip and dip bowl bought at a yard sale for $1.00 and sold for $53. A set of guardian ware cookware bought at another yard sale for 9.00. The handle sold for 9.99 and the rest of the set brought $76. And some Russel Wright dishes bought at an auction for 17.50 have brought in $106.
posted on October 5, 2003 06:21:07 AM
dejapooh, I'd like to ask you about some Olympic pins I have.
My DH was in the army and was sent to Atlanta for the Olympics back in the 90ties. (It was supposed to be for security, but they wound up doing all sorts of things.) Anyway, he drove the buses transporting the athletes from the different countries from the hotels to the games, etc. And then the athletes gave them pins from their countries. (It became a competitive thing between the soldiers who got the most pins and from what countries.)
Would be these pins be of any interest to collectors? I'd have to find them, but I don't think they mention Olympics, just say the countries or have flags on them.
posted on October 5, 2003 09:49:41 AM
I bought a package of wall decorations for my son's room but never got around to using them. Paid $12 at Eddie Bauer for them. I listed them on Ebay, said they were RARE (were only made for a few months), NIP for $9.99 plus $1.50 shipping.
I got an email from a woman claiming that they weren't "RARE" at all and that I was overcharging. She said she could run to the mall right now and buy up a ton of them. I thanked her for her email and suggested that she had hit the jackpot :0)
The item ended at $36. I ran to the mall and bought out the last few they had remaining, now on clearance for $7.99. These each sold for over $30 as well. I then called EB customer service and got the list of stores in the country that still had stock and bought out the inventory of every store who had them, four or five all together. By the end of my listing them, the bidding was going over $50/pack.
posted on October 5, 2003 01:32:12 PM
Interesting about the pins. I happen to collect pins from other countries, so it is my field of speciality. 99% of the pins from atlanta have no collector's value (I bought up about 800,000 at less then $.05 to use as traders for the rest of my life). The ONLY pins from atlanta to hold any value are pins from the media outlets, and pins from the participants (the athlets). There is no way to know the value as the athlet pins from atlanta are retailed now anywhere from $3 to $300. It depends on the country that produced it, the condition, the variety (as several countries produced several different pins). If you want to send me a scan of them, I can give you a better evaluation (I understand that he has no interest in selling them, as they are a great keepsake).
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. B. Franklin
posted on October 5, 2003 01:54:29 PM
I just got a great deal this month from one of my vendors. They're discontinuing a bunch of their products, moving to a new warehouse, and they would rather practically give away their products than move them! I bought about 25 widgets from them that normally retail for $100.00 each for just $0.25 apiece... that's right 25 cents each!!! I've been selling them on ebay anywhere between $30-50 each. It's a great mark-up! At the same time, I bought over $1000.00 of other close-outs that I ought to be able to turn into $3-4K easy. I wish I could run into these opportunities every month! At least the extra money will come in handy for X-mas time!
posted on October 5, 2003 08:22:59 PM
deja,
Thanks. I will have to find them first, as have no idea where they could be in this house!! But when I do, I will post a picture so you can evaluate them. (They were directly from the athletes, but I bet he wont let me sell them. )
posted on October 10, 2003 06:04:34 PM
deja...I did find some we stuck on one of his hats from then. But I know he has a whole bag full of them......somewhere. I won't be around on the computer this much this weekend, but Monday....ah...maybe I will go and do it now and send you the pix.
(if they dont come out right I will rework it on monday,ok?) ty
posted on October 10, 2003 09:25:27 PM
Right now I have 2 items I sell on Ebay. They sell for about $15 with shipping, and cost me under $2 by the time I ship them. I sell between 5 and 10 per week. The product takes me less than 3 minutes to produce package and ship this product.
It's not a living (yet), but I did buy my family a boat, a shed and some other nice things this summer since I started selling again. My next goal is to pay off all our debt, student loans and house loan. Couple years should see it through, Lord willing.
Want to know what my product is? too bad, get your own Just know that it can be done. Just think of ways to 'create vallue' for buyers. People don't buy items, they buy vallue.
Just know that it can be done. Just think of ways to 'create vallue' for buyers. People don't buy items, they buy vallue.