No market for these?? Wow!

[sakic92710]

How unfortunate that there does not seem to be a market for Lions Club banners.  Very strange considering how famous the organization is!  7,400 listings & only 33 sales.  No ads on Marketplace.  I'll have to try my luck there since there is no competition & see if I luck out finding a collector.   1 of many things where I need to find a collector!  lol  Best of luck in your selling, inventory searches & collecting.   🙂

[farmalljr]

At least where I live, the Lions are a fading organization. Most of the people are getting pretty long in the tooth (aka pretty old) and most people do not even know what the Lions do. Here, they have chicken BBQ's a few times a year, and rent tents. tables, and chairs. 

Like the things my grandmother liked or collected, it's desirability fades as time goes on. Perhaps that can be seen as sad, but times change and the people change. At times, things will become worthless. Younger generations do not place value on things like Lion's banners. The older generations already have too much collectable stuff, they have collected over their lifetimes. Kids do not want to deal with their parent's "junk" when they die. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I agree with @farmalljr : all things considered, I don't find it strange. There may be a market of some sort, but it is probably a rather narrow one if you are aiming for "Lions Club memorabilia" collectors.

I just glanced at a few of these, and, just looking at a glance at photos and titles, I have NO idea how large these banners usually are, because most ebay sellers , if they provide that info, do so in the IS or description box. That is not very helpful.

It looks like most are probably about 10" long? I think they'd sell better if they were larger.

If I had a bunch of these, I think I would try to figure out how best to position them in the marketplace. If you are correct, the market for Lions Club stuff , in particular banners, is not very vibrant, perhaps focus instead on the local aspect. A collector of items from his home town might be interested in the banner from that town's Lions Club, but not Lions Club stuff generally. 

And, in the case of the one you've shown us, I would emphasize the Lobster graphics and the Lobster Suppers. The market here would be less about the Lions Club or even the town, and more about adding this to , say, a kitchen or beach house where the owner has decorated with lobsters and related stuff. 

[luckythewinner]

How unfortunate that there does not seem to be a market for Lions Club banners+

Seems like an item that would only have local interest, and even that would be pretty narrow. Maybe something a local bar or restaurant might decorate with.

[onefootflippers]

If all the eyes of ebay won't sell something then the much lower eyes on facebook marketplace won't sell it either.

Thanks for bringing to attention another category of items with horrible sell through rates, those videos always do well for me on youtube.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

So rather than a vid touting what's a good thing to buy to resell, you do the opposite? Things to avoid buying to resell? Good idea, and probably more helpful.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I wonder if this fact might skew things in some way?

You say about 7400 active listings. I haven't looked real closely,  but over 6700 of them seem to be from ONE seller? 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dkr=1&iconV2Request=true&_blrs=recall_filtering&_ssn=mrbuysalot&sto...

[onefootflippers]

---

@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

So rather than a vid touting what's a good thing to buy to resell, you do the opposite? Things to avoid buying to resell? Good idea, and probably more helpful.

---

I do all sorts of instructional ebay videos, however the more negative ones are more successful. That lion's club banner looks exactly like the sort of thing I would blindly spend $1 without even checking comps.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@onefootflippers  Well, the lobster one I would definitely have paid $1.00 at a yard sale or wherever, and wouldn't have checked comps. Not necessarily a quick sale, but a solid long tail item.

Now, looking at the seller who has about 6700 banners listed? A quick look suggests he's asking $25 for most (depending on size, I think) , so if he paid $1.00 each or less, and even if he sells most at $15 or $20, he's probably going to do fine---pretty easy to photo and list, little real research involved, easy to store and easy to ship. I'd guess he's looking at the long game.....list them and take the sales as they come. Depending on what he paid for them, he may already be in profit mode.

So, I don't know...is this really something to avoid buying for resale?  If I saw a bunch of these at a yard sale, say I could buy 20 or 30 for five bucks total, would I buy them? Yes. And if they have good graphics---like the lobster banner---a very big yes at that LOL

This is a case where the stats --- 7400 listings, 33 sales ---would not convince me to stay away from them, IF I could buy low enough. But then, I've always been a long tail seller.

[onefootflippers]

The seller is Mr Buys a Lot. He has an every increasing in size ebay store that has a 65 year sell through rate. He operates on just listing everything he can get his hands on for at least $20 and counting on enough of them to sell to make a profit. His 100,000 item store only does $3000 in sales a month. 

If you count him in the mix then these banners have a 56 year sell through rate. If you take him out of the mix then they have a 27 year sell through rate. 

[simba6]

Collectables are always a turkey shoot as to what will sell and for how much.  What does not sell today may in a few months.  Just have to rotate through such items.

[pls-consignments]

Not sure if this adds anything, but I have a huge collection of Wisconsin Lion's Club pins from the 80's/90's, including New London, WI. However, not great sellers at well below the $10 threshold. Of those I've sold, most have gone to Wisconsin buyers, probably in their 70's and 80's. 🙂

[atlasesattic]

I started out 4 years ago selling vintage and antiques, I still have most of it under collectibles...I finally realized that it's not as popular as I thought it would be so I now sell pretty much everything including new items now, there is an ebay seller that is pretty popular on YouTube that only sells vintage stuff and according to him he makes money hand over fist,  so IDK...but once this vintage stuff is gone, that's it I won't be selling in the category anymore, now when I do sourcing I bypass all the vintage. 

[chapeau-noir]

Man, what I'd do for a succulent lobster tail with a bit of drawn butter.

It's a nice banner, I can see a homey fish house having stuff like that, but in the main that kind of thing piles up all over local antique malls and collects dust.

When you have generation after generation piling up objects, something's got to give.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@onefootflippers While I think sell through rate is important, I also think it is easy to place too much emphasis on it. I've been here long enough to know that ebay sellers have different goals, different situations, etc.