So we've all been brooding over the pandemic, but it's got me reminiscing about the good old days I've had on eBay, and more notably, my biggest money makers, or "flips" as it's called. I don't see any shame in admitting when you've made a flip, but I know some will shy away when asked the question. I want to know what was your biggest flip?
What was the item?
How much did you pay for it?
and how much did you sell it for on eBay?
I'd be happy to start us off,
I was browsing a local recycling drop off a few months before the pandemic, and came across a huge box of "magic the gathering" cards. When I say huge, I mean...over 5,000 cards! Plopped them on eBay with no clue what I'd get, and got $1400 for them! I know someone else has had that exciting thrill, right? TALK ABOUT IT!
Hoping you won't be shy to let us know what your biggest flip was!
@postcardcountry wrote:Okay...a tale from the good old days....
eBay Barbie auction...the tale of how Barbie (the doll) became first an eBay buyer. Sitting a her computer with boxes all round her on the floor. Stopping at a barn sale with her convertible, then showing it overflowing. So Barbie became an eBay seller. Now we see her with boxes to go out the door. The listing just went on and on and you laughed the whole way through.
this was the creation of one eBay seller. Barbie and all props were included in the auction. It received thousands of views as the listing was shared throughout the boards.
She did another one....prozac Barbie but I missed that one.
The old days when we had fun listing, could have fun with descriptions, and board postings were more relaxed.
What a creative "take" on listing! Makes me want to try that sometimes with an item!
@chapeau-noir wrote:
@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
@vintageantique77 wrote:Imagine the treasures like that that possibly got thrown away from kids or grandkids.
Sadly, even being an EBayer, this is happening to us. 2 sets of family members recently & almost everything went to the dumpster. The homes are out of state & no one has the time or energy to dig through it all.
This happened to me too, almost exactly the same. I simply could not take on more stuff, I already have two storage units. The executor ended up giving much of it away and the rest went into the dumpster. Some other lucky dealer got it all for free, and it's so ironic because I'm a dealer, but I had no desire to move and store all that stuff.
People like me come in the night and go through stuff. I've climbed cyclone fences, snuck round backs of buildings, climbed under stairwells if I think there's something good. Don't look at my wares, lol, they're all consignments or house stuff - the other things I get can be sold locally and I've switched to curb surfing since I have a trailer now. There's an order of semi-mendicant monks locally who dumpster dive, refurbish what they find and sell it.
When I was in undergrad school some of we really broke, poor students used to dumpster dive behind the dorms at the end of the year - the wealthy students would throw the most amazing, good stuff away! One time late at night I was out back of one dorm getting up onto a dumpster, and who pokes her head up from the other side (we stood on little step ladders outside the dumpster) but my good friend! Turns out she was dumpster diving for stuff, too. So we teamed up. She once found a pair of nearly new Frye campus boots - geez. There were a bunch of us out there - we'd get rice cookers, small appliances, textbooks, etc. All clean, too. That was pre-internet days. Now everybody sells that stuff online.
Bingo! They used to do that here at Duke University back in the early 90's before internet. They got wise once eBay caught on and opened a store. I think they closed the store down....I've hit storage facility dumpsters before, as my dear friend has several storage lockers ( He was a hoarder!) I'd go every night around 1 or 2AM, sneak in the front gate, and dig dig dig. Found an old cigarette lighter in a plastic bag with a victorian woman on it, got 55$ for it here. My friend passed away 6 years ago now....Miss those days.
@ladyindecadence wrote:One of my best buys was a pair of dessert plates from the dinner service purchased by Mary Todd Lincoln in 1861 for use in the white house. I had to wait at a little auction for almost 8 hours as they were on the last table of stuff to be sold. When they finally got to the last table it was myself and two older ladies. I thought they wanted the plates but as luck would have it they were both after a pair of staffordshire dogs. I ended up buying the pair of plates for $5 I sold the one with the large chip for $6000 and the good condition one is still in my collection. I imagine Abraham Lincoln enjoying a slice of pie off my plate while the civil war was raging on.
Amazing! That's amazing there wasn't a crowd of people there - ha! Did a search on Staffordshire dogs and they bring some good money! Amazing.
@18704d wrote:
It took me awhile, but I finally read this entire thread.
Random thoughts:
There's thousands of dollars of valuable advice above.. by studying what others have said.
My takes?
First.. I've posted here for 15 years or so, and I want to start of this reply by telling you
of one of my big 'business adventures here on eBay.
Back whenever they came out, I got the bright idea to buy Elvis Presley postge stamps, with First Day Covers.
20? years later, I see the $100.00 I eagerly invested.. shows a probable worth, according to Completed Listings, of somewhere around $80.00
Never buy something the USPS (or anyone) is gonna print a billion of them, and think they'll resale as a rarity.
Sigh ...
70s jeans and other hippie clothes.
U.S. sellers... open up your auctions to Japan. You'll be glad you did.
Even if someone there, doesn't win, they'll most certainly bump up your final auction price far higher than if you chose U.S. only.
Biggest got-away?
Hubby was helping a younger adult who was running a small antique store.
Kind of volunteering, because we never had the money to own our own brick and mortar.
Anyway, one day, a guy comes in asking that antique shop to tell him what his huge military "Log Book" was worth.
And he plops down on the counter a large book as thick as your fist.
It seems, this was a "log"? of some time, that was from the early 1950s and contained day-to-day hand written notes about Everything that officially happened on a U.S. Navy battleship.
Yep. A major battleship.
It was official. Like from or for the captain? or commander? or whoever was in charge?
Day to day. Official. Precise. Every important day to day occurance.
"(date) Entered (whatever) foreign port and was met by the (ship that refueld them's name), who transferred however many (thousands of gallons or liters) of (whatever fueled this battleship).
Everything was in this book. Day to day. From when they left Norfolk until their mission (months?) ended.
Everything the Navy Dep't regulations obviously demanded be officially logged.
Weather conditions. Communications sent and received.. to whom, and from whom.
Every necessary detail was carefully written in it.
"What's it worth" the owner asked.
My husband just stared in wonder. He later told me, he had the misfortune of only having 8 dollars cash in his wallet.
"How did you get this?"
"A buddy of mine worked at a coastal scrap yard contracted to cut up old Navy ships after decommissioning, and he found this aboard and took it home."
The younger antique store owner? Mainly a gas-and-oil guy, a big fan of that Pickers tv show..
Took one look at the dates.. found it was a few years after WW2 ended.. and totally lost interest in it.
"You wanna make an offer on it?"
8 dollars. Hubby gritted his teeth, knowing he had to say "No".
He did ask if the owner lived locally. Nope. Just in town for the day and thought he'd bring it along.
Sigh ...
Lynn
hehe I bought some of the Elvis forever stamps they put out a few years ago. I don't expect them to ever be worth anything, really..
Shucks about your Military logbook though...I wonder if it would have been worth much being after WW2? It's hard for me to imagine, really. I'm sure some Navy buff would have loved to have had it, especially if he had served on the same ship....wow....If your husband remembered the name of the ship, you might could track down a worthpoint.com hit or some other website where it may have slipped off to. Worth a shot, unless you don't want to know how much it went for! 🙂
