What do you look for at yard sales?

[cyberdan]

Silver_Fox told about old oil cans and Klava just posted on legos.

What sells good on ebay that you have seen or purchased at yard sales?

 

[bootybay]

I have been buying and selling on ebay since it opened up... heres a few things I learned...anything harley sells... I pick up anything at yard sales that I think will sell, all collectibles, like name brand or high end china n dishes and figurines. High end genuine purses like dooney and bourke and coach..but make sure you know the difference between real and fake as theres alot of fakes out there.. I also pick up old clocks, electric and battery operated, working and non working, older bar stuff, like signs, mugs, steins.. I just list all my items with lots of pictures and am totally honest on my description, if its cracked or scratched or broken, I tell em in the description.. honesty is the best policy...

My best find and sale on ebay was a small cabinet vase I paid 25 cents for.. it sold on ebay for 450.00 and was sent to Japan. it was only like 4 inches tall..had the french crosses embossed all over it...made in the late 1700's by daum Nancy in france... I litereally fell right off my chair on that one... and I was gonna throw it out...lol...

all jewelry is a good seller too especially those that are marked by the maker..

 

[acevillav]

I have bought/sold tons of Pyrex bowls . They are slam dunks and you can get them for relatively cheap. I also look for old pottery McCoy, Rookwood among others. old coke, Pepsi stuff is good too. There are some 70's board games , GI Joe stuff. My best sale was a load of dungeons and dragons stuff books, dungeons adventures & lead figures I bought with the mornings clad $2.25 . I Sold it on eBay for 92.51 Treasure is out there good luck !

Acevillav

 

[Marty-Graw]

i have only been doing Ebay for a couple years or so.....so i dont know EVERYTHING that will sell....lot of times i just take a chance on something....the other day i bought a bunch of Redwing pottery kitchen items for $6....i knew that was a good name for jugs and churns so i took a chance....it had a trivet in the lot that Kovel's valued it at $250 and I sold it for $220.10.....also look for military items....once i bought an old military rifle scope at an estate sale for $2....i figured i could sell it at flea market for 15 or 20.....got it home and looked it up...was a WW2 sniper scope....sold it for $1100.....one more thing i can think of is old fishing equipment...old lures, reels.....steel rods are good too......if you can find an older Ambassadeur reel no. 5500 thats a good one i sold 2 different ones for a little over $200 each....make sure it is the 5500...not 5500c or any other letter tho....well thats bout all i can think of right now....if anything else comes to mind i will make another post

 

[acevillav]

Here's another thing to buy,books . Look for popular authors and first editions if you can get them. i have also found cool stuff from $ to cd's to old postcards forgotten in them . (used as bookmarks) I was given 2 boxes of Louis Lamour paper backs 47 in all I sold them for a cool $42.50. Nothing like 100% profit $$$

Good luck all

Acevillav

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

I recomend surfing ebay and look at # of hits. This will give you a good idea of what things are selling for.


VPR

 

[cyberdan]

I recomend surfing ebay and look at # of hits. This will give you a good idea of what things are selling for.

Are there any good books out there that are on collectibles and ebay? (one book)

 

[acevillav]

Your local library should have tons, "flea market finds" and kovels antique price guide are good books. They should also have price guides for specific items toys, records etc... Just photo copy the pages you want.Save your dough for buying loot

Acevillav

 

[cyberdan]

"flea market finds"

Did a search on amazon and got lots of hits but most look like something Martha $tewart would do.

Did find one with that name, no pic, no description but bought it anyway.

Paid one cent for it (+3.99 to ship)

 

[nhbenz]

I recomend surfing ebay and look at # of hits. This will give you a good idea of what things are selling for.

Are there any good books out there that are on collectibles and ebay? (one book)

A good newer book, if you get very lucky; Margin of Safety by Seth A. Klarman, published in 1991. I sold a copy a year ago for $800, but now its fetching $1000+.

 

[N.J.THer]

I have not done the garage sale/eBay thing for a few years but i focused on books, old print material, cast iron cookware (big bucks), old toys (especially in the original boxes) and towards the end I started buy unique religious items. I purchased a set of films titled 'Acts of the Apostles' for $5 and sold it for $150. One group of cast iron cookware I purchased for $20 and made over $500 on it. I really should get back into it.

Bootybay is correct about the Harley stuff. I just sold my Harley on eBay and made $2,000 more then I would have gotten if I sold it locally.

Good luck

NJ

 

[Historyhound]

Art pottery, oil paintings and watercolors. Picked up a large, beat-up, watercolor with a signature and date(1953) a few weeks ago for $50. Paid $100 to replace the glass(UV proof), matting and acid-free backing and got a cool $1400.00 for it last weekend. The guy wanted $125 for it ,but it looked so bad, I was able to talk him down rather quickly. I LOVE GARAGE SALES!!

 

[nhbenz]

Kitchenware:
Cast iron pans are good (as NJT pointed out), but the name brands are important: Griswold, Wapak, and slighly lesser so Wagner. The more unusual shapes do great. My first eBay sale was an oval Griswold #15 fish-fry pan for $225 (if I remember right)... I found it in the trash when the local college students moved out for the summer.
Wagner Magnalite (aluminum cookware) does well too.

Toys:
Late 1960's Matchbox or old Hot Wheels cars. But the paint is very important.
Cap guns, 1950's do well, earlier do great.

-geez, I could keep going, but basically I'll buy anything for the right price.

 

[bootybay]

You really cannot depend on ebay, because, you dont know what will sell next week.. and ebay is very seasonal.. now that the school started shopping is done ( they still look for name brand kids clothes n jeans ) I would hit it up with holiday stuff, halloween stuff now.. research ebay for all other stuffs to see if stuff you have is selling.. You just dont know what will sell..you have to keep a close eye on whats selling, depression glass may be a hot seller last month, but this month it may not be moving.. although closer to xmas, folks buy collectibles as gifts, so thats a plus for all your highly collectibles..

oh also great seller is Madame Alexander dolls too.. and just about anything country or folk art sells purdy good too.

 

[nhbenz]

Very true BootyBay! I think August is the worst, with so many folks on vacation. I have some NFL footballls I've waiting until about now to sell. They were used by the New England Football League (semi-pro). I hope football fans will start looking, now that the season has started.
Seasonality is also important when it comes to selling jewelry... certain birthstones sell better shortly before the appropriate month, prices being boosted by gift givers.

 

[Diamond Spike]

Zippo lighters . Advertising and military are the best





DS.

 

[EDDE]

L.L. Bean clothing it has a guaranty

 

[Winchester52fan]

I bought 3 abu garcia 5000 reels brand new still in box for $5.00 apiece.The same guy bought all 3 for 501.50 on Ebay.
Not a bad little investment.It paid for the rental car for my upcoming vacation!