UNDER $5

Wow! I haven't written in a long time! My Ebay world has been very busy. So... I'm going to cut to the chase and have you check out some of my recently sales. The dollar amount you see on the left is what I paid. Next, you'll see where I found it (GS - garage sale or TS - thrift store). And finally, the link to see the actual Ebay listing and selling price (Sorry, the Ebay listing has expired). Enjoy!

.50 cents - GS - Gusher Game - $57.00
$4.00 - GS - Vase - $35.00
$1.00 - GS - Creamer - $28.57
.25 cents - TS - A First Little Golden Book - $16.49
$5.00 - GS - Longberger Notepad Basket - $27.55
$5.00 - GS - Longberger Christmas Basket - $24.00
$5.00 - GS - Suede Coat - $39.99
$1.00 - TS - Richard Scarry Book - $41.00
$2.00 - TS - 4 Richard Scarry Books - $27.05
$3.00 - GS - Vintage Scuba Diving Weights - $28.51
$1.00 - TS - Chemistry Text Book - $40.00
$3.00 - GS/TS - 25 Dr. Seuss Books - $35.03
$2.00 - GS - 17 Saddle Club Books - $27.95
$3.00 - GS - 15 Harvard Classic Books - $48.00
$5.00 - GS - Star Wars Lego Set - $28.09
.10 cents - GS - Stellarscope - $25.00
$3.50 - GS/TS - 33 American Girl Books - $27.00

SELLING LP's ON EBAY

As I last wrote, the lot of seven Jimmy Buffett albums brought in a good chunk of change. Awesome! However, I promised to write again and tell you how all of the LP's did in the world of Ebay auctions. Instead of me describing each one, you can view them by clicking on the link.

19 Vintage Rock LP Collection - $51.00

12 Classic Rock LP Collection - $12.50

15 Classic Rock LP Collection - $20.50

10 Reggae LP Collection - $31.50

16 Classic Folk Rock LP Collection - $2.47

So, there you have it! Those old albums (NOT including Jimmy Buffett) brought in $117.97! Ka-Ching! If you add the Jimmy Buffett ablums, then it's a grand total of $200.50! Ka-Ching, Ka-Ching!

Unfortunately, I have no idea why some of the groups sold for so much. If you know, please tell me.

Rock on!

MARGARITAVILLE

My husband, Mark told me months ago to Ebay his old LP's. I laughed! Who is going to buy those? Who still has a turn table? HA! Well, it seems there is a market for old LP's. I don't know why I should be surprised since I've sold a doll with the head off and live Koi fish on Ebay. Ebay is like something out of a fiction book. Things of seemingly no value here on planet earth, have value in Ebay's world.

Since there were so many LP's, my husband grouped them by music style. The first group listed, happened to be all by the same artist: Seven Jimmy Buffett albums. Most of them were not in the best condtion. Meaning, many of them had a faded ring imprint on the cover from where the album was pressing from years and years of storage. All the covers had some form of rubbing to the edges and corners. They did though have their original jackets, but most of the jackets were just plain without any type of song lyrics or graphics. All the records looked in perfect condition, so I believe they could of been played without any problems.

Within 24 hours we had received a bid of $2.50. Not too exciting, huh? However, shortly after that bid, this auction entered the Ebay Twilight Zone. The bidding went up and up and ended at $82.53! Of course, I screamed "What!". Who would buy these when they could buy the CD?? Mark reminded me that one of those albums was made before he was famous. However, when we saw how well the auction did, we decided to do some Googling research. We found you could buy it in CD form. So what gives? If you look closely at the songs on both the LP and the CD, you see that there are 3 songs that were not recorded on the CD. I'm sure this is what drove the bidding.

So, next time you pass up that box of LP's at a garage sale or Goodwill, you might want to flip through them and see if you can find "Before the Salt".

Later this week, I will let you know what happened to the rest of my husband's old LP's.

Rock on...

FINDING THE MARKET VALUE OF A BOOK

One way to know the value of a book is to use the website www.addall.com. It will list what the book is selling for on Amazon, Half.com, Alibris, Abebooks and others. This is a considerable time saver from going to each company's website to check value. It's also a great way to see at a glance if there are a lot of copies of the book in the used market.

When I bring home a book that I'm not sure of, I first check Ebay. This lets me see if there is any demand for the book. If there aren't any auctions for it or just a few, I then check addall. This will help me decide if I should sell the book through a different venue. Sometimes Ebay is not the best place to sell a book.

Hope this tip will help you save time when deciding to sell books online.

BALLET BOOKS

One of the things that I have found successful selling on Ebay are books. However, not just a variety of books, but books with a theme. Selling one book at a time has not paid off for me. The time it takes to list it, photograph it, and then ship it eats away my profit margin. Unless the book is rare, hard to find or out of print, then its just not worth my time.

Selling books in groups with something in common has been much more rewarding for my time. The books can either be by the same author, from a series, or for a certain target market. For example, children's book author and illustrated Jan Brett sell very well in groups/lots. Magic Tree House books or the Left Behind series sell well when you have all the books in the series. Books that have received the Caldecott or Newbery award sell well together too, as I've shown in past blog posts.

Keeping this in my mind, I was at a garage sale and noticed this person was selling all these ballet/dance books. All of them were in excellent condition, and there was a sign that said "everything half off". It was obviously the last day for their garage sale, and they wanted to get rid of all their "stuff". Counting the books and realizing the cost would be $1.50, I decided to take a chance and see what would happen on Ebay. I had never thought of doing this, but since I figured there are people out there who have children taking ballet, then perhaps there would be some interest or demand for books such as these.

I bought 7 books that day with half of them written for the little child in mind, and the other for someone who might be studying dance at the college level. When I got home I researched each one individually and found that none of them were rare with a high dollar value. Many of them were out of print, but there were enough used copies available to keep the price too low for me to make a return on my investment. So, I gathered them all together on the floor, took a picture and listed them on Ebay. My lot of ballet books brought in $36.01! Now, that's a fair return on my time.

Since this auction, I have kept my eyes open for books with a theme. I'm sure if you found a bunch of books about button collecting or trains or scrapbooking, there would be a market on Ebay for them. You may want to try searching on Ebay with that in mind, and see what you find.

If you have had success in doing the same thing I did with my ballet books, leave me a comment and tell me about it.

Next time I'll share with you how I determine if a book is rare enough to list alone. Checking Amazon.com is not sufficient enough to make this kind of decision. So, tune in next week.

ZOJIRUSHI

Okay... you've been reading my blog from time to time, and now you're starting to keep your eyes open when you go out. Here's something else you may want to consider buying if you see it. However, you probably won't pay a dime or dollar like I've done with some of my other stuff.

Zojirushi is a japanese company that started back in 1918. They make small appliances for the kitchen (i.e. coffee makers, bread machines, rice cookers, etc.). A good friend of mine, who is also an Ebay nut, told me about this brand name. Since people who shop on Ebay like to search by brand name this information was helpful. I'm not sure how long this company has been in the US market, but if you type in "Zojirushi Bread Machine" in Ebay, then check "completed listings" you will see green, green, green. This proves there is a demand for this product. Zojirushi brand-new is pricey, so finding one on Ebay is a great deal for a shopper.

I found one at a garage sale that had barely been used. It was an older model, but looked great! I paid $15 for it and sold it for $50. The newer the model, the more money you can make. People that get rid of their bread machines usually do for two reasons. One, they just never used it, and two, they're tired of it taking up space in their kitchen. The one I bought was a gift, and the people just never used it because they really never wanted a bread machine. Perfect! They were anxious to get rid of it and it had barely been used.

If you find one and decide to sell it on Ebay you'll need to do a few things in order to make buyers feel comfortable buying a "used" machine.

(1) Test it out at home and make sure it works.
(2) If it doesn't come with a manual, print one out from the Zojirushi website and include it in the auction
(3) Make sure you get a strong box to ship it in and pack it well. Don't forget to charge around $25 - $30 to ship it. It's heavy. (I would also insure it if the bidding goes over $50)

If you search Ebay by the words "bread machine", you will see all sorts of brands. However, Zojurishi seems to be the most popular.

So, keep your eyes open. I have even seen them at thrift stores.

"Experiencing" VHS Success

Hello! Does anyone remember the Experiencing God bible study by Henry T. Blackaby that came out about ten years ago? If you did this bible study at your church, you probably watched these videos after going over your homework. Today, if a church wanted to conduct the same bible study they would have a hard time finding a DVD for it. Why? The publisher did not release the videos in DVD format.


I found these videos at a garage sale and got them for free! I was buying a more recent bible study by Blackaby at the same garage sale to sell on Ebay, and the owners said I could have them for free. Again, I really thought they weren’t worth anything since they where VHS and VHS’s are everywhere at garage sales as people are converting to DVD’s.

When I got home and checked Ebay, I found nothing. There wasn’t any past sales for these videos nor anyone currently selling them. “Good thing I got them for free!” I thought.

Before throwing them in the Goodwill pile, I decided to see if Christian Book Distributors was selling them on DVD. If they were, then that would explain why no one was trying to sell a VHS version of this study. CBD had the videos on their website, but not in DVD. They were in VHS! I was stunned for a nano second when I then saw “NO LONGER AVAILABLE”. When these videos were available they sold for $169.99 brand new. That’s a pretty high price!

Well, you better believe it! Ebay would be the place to sell these videos. Even if I got $25 for them, it would be worth my time. I started the bidding at $25 and up, up, up it went. The final bid at the end of the auction was $151.99. Yippee! I think it may have gone higher, but I had gone to bed early that night and a question about the videos was sent to me that I didn’t get a chance to answer. It was a from a lady asking if I would ship to Canada. She said “She would pay anything to get these videos!” Wow! This auction may have gone higher.

Keep you eyes open. I’m sure they would sell great even if they were missing their jackets.

Here’s my actual listing: Experiencing God

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

“Unbelievable” is what I kept saying when the bidding for this particular garage sale find just kept going up!

I picked up a binder at a garage sale that I thought was full of baseball or football trading cards, but it was American Girl trading cards. I didn’t even know American Girl made trading cards. I asked, “How much?”. The lady said “twenty-five cents”. I bought it. I know American Girl “stuff” does fairly well on Ebay but I really had no idea if these trading cards would be the same. I figured for 25 cents I could take a chance.

When I got home and researched the cards, I was right. They have, at times, done well. Well, a month went by and I thought about giving them to my daughter, Allison, who has recently started reading the series. However, before I did that, I looked one more time on Ebay to see the potential profit. This time I wasn’t seeing buyers paying that much for them. Would it really be worth my time to list them? I would have to list them by each individual character. Well… that night, I decided to give the Ebay wheel-of-chance a spin..

Listing them by character here are the sales:

Addy (22 cards) - $11.49
Samantha (18 cards) - $22.49
Josefina (17 cards) - $6.57
Kaya (15 cards) - 99 cents
Molly (21 cards) - 99 cents
Kirsten (21 cards) - 99 cents
Felicity (19 cards) - 99 cents

Not bad for a 25 cent investment, huh? So, why would I say this Ebay auction was “Unbelievable”?

Well… there was one more set a cards that I didn’t mention.

Kit (14 cards) - $113.50

Yep! $113.50 for 14 little cards!!!

Those trading cards brought $158.01 total. Remember, my investment was only 25 cents! Now, do you see why I say “unbelievable”!

Well, if you read my early blog about the Madame Alexander doll you saw that I asked the winning bidder why my doll sold for such a high price. One of the other trading card buyers had e-mailed me a question, and she seemed friendly. I asked her if she knew about the value of my Kit trading cards. Here is what she wrote me back:

Lynn, to answer you question, you really hit the jackpot. The 1994 300 box set cards are worth something, but 1998 thru 2001 cards are starting to get really expensive. 1998 card box sets were 360, but they were laced with leftover 1994 cards. This was the year they came out with Josefina, her cards are the 3rd hardest to find but stilI can be found, but Samantha and Addy got new different 60 card sets then, and due to the mixing they are the 2nd hardest to find. I couldn't believe your Kit cards brought way over $100, for a few loose cards!!! But, here is the deal, Kit cards were made in two batches, 2000 Kit cards 1-30, were only made a couple of years, but 2001 Kit cards 31-60 were only made about a year, or less!! This makes them very hard to find, to complete ones set, that's why yours brought so much. I hope this info helped explain, God bless, PJ. I couldn't afford them so I am still looking for some of Kit's!!!

So, keep your eyes open at those garage sales or thrift stores because you never know what little gold mine you may find.

Until next time… happy hunting.

A LESSON TO LEARN

Last time I wrote, I shared with you how I collected Caldecott Award books and turned them into a good profit. My technique was looking for that gold or silver seal. So, could this same “seal” technique work for Newbery books?

I collected 29 Newbery books and listed them in one auction. I paid $12.50 and the auction ended at $26.00. According to my research prior to listing these books, I should have sold them for more. Well… what happened?

Timing!

As marketers say when selling a product, “Timing is everything”. My listing ended the day before Good Friday. This is not a good time to have an auction end. Most people are getting ready to go out of town for the Easter holiday and are not online.

So, will I collect Newbery books again and list them? Absolutely! There is plenty of research to say that lots of Newbery books do sell well on Ebay.

I already have another Newbery and Caldecott lot growing and feel confident they will provide a good return on my investment in the future.

LESSON OF THE WEEK:
Always, always, always check when your listing will be ending.

Look what just a little "pocket change" can do!

Over about a 3 month period, I collected 23 picture books with one thing in common. They all had won a Caldecott award. I paid a dime here, and a quarter there, and sometimes $1. The final total for all 23 Caldecotts’ was $7.15.

When I couldn’t fit anymore in the little shelf space I had claimed for this lot, I decided to list them all together in one auction on Ebay. Who would the lucky winner be? A teacher? A parent? A collector?

I don’t know who won this bid, but I do know they paid $63.09! Not bad for just keeping my eye out for that silver or gold seal on the front cover. These types of books are the easiest to spot because of that seal. I could flip through a few boxes at a garage sale quickly just keeping my eye out for that shiny circle. Even my youngest son Nathan, who can’t read yet, could help me find these books by just looking for that seal.

I used this same “seal technique” for Newbery books. So, check back next week, and I’ll tell you how well that lot did.

Until next week….

Looking for answers. Can you help me?

I don’t know about you, but when new technology makes a big splash it seems to me the old technology becomes worthless. Take, for instance, digital cameras. It’s no secret that sales for 35mm cameras are down, and digital cameras are up.

So, after my wonderful husband bought me a new digital camera, I figured my 35mm would probably need to be either thrown in the trash or packed away to become an antique that my grand children will laugh at one day.

Well, not so fast…

Since I’ve become such an Ebay “nut”, I figured I should check out Ebay and see if there was any demand for my camera. I was surprised to see many 35 mm cameras being bought for $20, $30 and even $80! Could my camera really get that much? This is too strange? Who would want it? Isn’t everyone wanting digital?

So, I took a chance. Sure enough my camera sold for $46! Wow!

Why??

Do you know why someone would buy a 5 year old camera? My guess is they bought it for the lens. I would have kept the camera if the lens had fit my new camera, but that wasn’t the case.

However, I’m keeping my eye out for old 35 mm cameras that have been cared for well because I’m sure someone will dump their's off at a garage sale thinking the same thing. “This camera is a money pit! Who wants to develop pictures BEFORE previewing!”

Do you know? I would love to hear your theory.

Throw the doll away... keep the clothes!

This particular Ebay sale was the most exciting to watch and most profitable to date. However, it wasn't something I picked up at a garage sale or thrift store. Although you could possibly find one at a garage sale, since I was about to try and get rid of mine for $10 bucks.

When I was young (elementary years), my grandmother gave me a Madame Alexander "Cissy" doll with clothes. I played with it some, but I was more of a tomboy. At some point I put the doll and all the clothes in a big bag, and later, my parents put it up in their attic. And, there it sat for about 30 years. Luckily, moths and bugs did not do much damage except for a pair of her high heel shoes.

Well... I started the bidding at $20 with a buy-it-now for $100. (Am I glad no one jumped at that "buy-it-now" offer!) I really didn't think the doll was worth anything but my wise husband told me to give it a try. Within the first few hours a bid for $20 came in and then this is how the bidding went: $30 - $50 - $69.99 - $79.99 - $100 - $115.79 - $127 - $165.99 - $311 - $336.99 - $436.99 - $499.01 - $525.99 - $555.55 - $565.55.

Unbelievable! That's what I kept saying. Everytime I turned on my computer to check my e-mail, I would go over to Ebay and see how the doll was doing. Unbelievable!! It just kept going up and up!

You have to understand, the dolls head was broken off!!! Her hair was a mess!! The eyelashes where half missing. And, her leg had a crack in it! I just couldn't understand why someone would want this doll! The only thing I could logically think of was the person who won the bid was going to use her for parts. I had heard from another Ebayer that doll collectors will do that in order to make a perfect "antique" doll. Her face didn't have any scratches and the face paint was in perfect condition so I thought that's why it sold for so much. Someone was going to replace the hair/wig, put the head on a perfect body and then resell it for more. Nope!! That was not why the person bought my doll.

How do I know why they bought my doll? I e-mailed them and asked. IT WAS THE CLOTHES!

Here is what they wrote me when I asked:

"The three tagged dresses were rare and there is a group of Vintage Cissy collectors who collect the dolls and clothing. The three dresses were what people were most interested in. I have an extra body with legs and no splits so I can repair her and reattach her head and fix her hair. Madame Alexander was known for having the most beautiful clothing of any doll manufacturer. In the 50s she received the clothing designer award several times that was usually given to Fashion designers such as Dior, Chanel. If the doll had not had a split in the leg she would have gone for more. I'm happy I have the ability to fix her. Merrisue"

So... what one man considers junk another considers it a treasure. I really didn't think there was any value to that doll. All the other "Cissy" dolls on Ebay were in such perfect condition, and mine was far from it! However, looking back after the bidding, not many people were selling "Cissy" clothing. You could buy a Cissy doll on Ebay that would come with one dress, but my auction had three "Cissy" outfits! (The rest of the outfits you see in the picture were hand made by my grandmother.)

Tip of the day: If you see a doll like this, look for the name "Madame Alexander Cissy" on the back of her neck near her hair line. Also, the clothing must have the tag "Madame Alexander Cissy" on it to be worth anything.

Happy hunting!

Where's Goldie? "Where the adventure began"

Hello! Welcome to my blog about my Ebay adventures. Hopefully you will find this interesting or amusing as you read and see some of the unusual and sometimes crazy things I have sold on Ebay for $$$. Most everything I found at either a garage sale or thrift store.

The adventure began one night when I was linked to an ebook about children's books that sell well on Ebay. I LOVE children's books! Children's book always have such great illustrations and the good ones are always a joy to read aloud.

Well... after reading this ebook, I did some research on Ebay and stumbled upon a small book called "Where's Goldie?". Perhaps you've heard of it. I had never heard of it but I copied the picture into a file along with other pictures of children's books (old and not so old) that sell well on Ebay. I then turned all these pictures into a screen saver slide show and throughout the next few days my computer would flash these pictures of children's books and I would see them from time to time as I walked by and went about my day. I did this in hope that my brain would remember them if I ever came across one. It could mean some nice $$$.

A few days later, there was a church garage sale. While browsing through the children's books I stumbled upon this little golden book called "Where's Goldie?" I froze! And, then I threw it back in the pile of books and continued looking at others. Then I froze again. Why was I still thinking about that little golden book? I picked it up again. I held in my hand for several minutes wondering what to do with it. I really didn't know why I was thinking about it. It didn't even register that it was one of my screen saver pictures. Luckily, I saw the sign saying books 10 cents. "10 cents! Well... I think I can chance it even if it turns out to be worthless... looks like a cute little story to read to the kids". So, I walked out with a few other books and went home after spending just a couple of dollars.


When I got home, I checked Ebay's "sold" history and... sure enough! This particular book sold on Ebay for $50! I almost fell off my chair!

I listed my book and it sold for $20! Not bad for a 10 cent investment.

Later, my son found one at a garage sale and bought it for 25 cents. His sold for $30!

And, then a few months later, I found one at a thrift store. I paid $1 for it and it sold for $20.

So... this little tiny book started my adventure with a bang. With such little investment and a decent return (even after Ebay and Paypal fees), I figured it all would add up to some fun mad money.

So... for those of you who are reading this, I hope you are inspired to keep your eyes open for little gems like "Where's Goldie?".

Be sure to check back from time to time and I'll continue to share with you the things I find and sell on Ebay.