Strangest thing you've found while sourcing

[fbusoni]

I saw for sale yesterday at a thrift shop an empty pickle jar (complete with lid, and label still attached) for $1.

Seemed a little pricey.  😂

A sign of the times, perhaps?

[sin-n-dex]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

     I sold the 2 larger ones and I did keep the small ones and still have them in a cabinet. I felt sorry for those dolls lol. How in the world could someone be that cruel to hate their mother like that?

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There's probably a back story. I haven't talked to my mother in 13 years, not since she tried to cheat me out of my inheritance and keep it for herself. She's also a horrible eBay customer and the worst kind of customer you could get. She wanted a seller to pay her for her time to return something she didn't like after she received it, and told me I'm a bad seller if I don't compensate unhappy buyers with extra money.

Some of the stories I've posted here about awful eBay customers that I heard about are things she did to sellers when she used to buy on eBay 20 years ago. She once drove 869 miles from Canada to North Carolina to show up a sellers house to see if they had more china patterns they could seller her really cheap (as an off eBay deal). There's no accounting for craziness. I had to grow up believing this type of insanity was normal.

I no longer judge people who make such comments about their family... don't know what they had to put up with for most of their lives.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@fbusoni wrote:

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

How in the world could someone be that cruel to hate their mother like that?

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@silverstatetreasureboxes 

I am reminded (and I digress, admittedly) of a dating app that I once perused some years back.

It contained a series of questions that could be answered by both men and women.  The more similar answers you shared with another, the more you had in common, in theory.

Men could see all the questions a potential partner answered, and vice-versa. 

One of the questions was a fill in the blank.

My relationship with my mother improved when...

There were perhaps 5 answers that could be selected.  

To my astonishment, the most widely selected answer was "... she died."

For reference, I was viewing the profiles of women who were born in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a time when children generally speaking were not believed to have inner psychological lives.

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I'm not wanting my mother to die... but the best thing she ever did for me was go away and stop talking to me. She tried to contact me a few years ago by email but I ignored it. I didn't want to be roped into that insanity again (and trying to cheat me out of the money my grandfather left for me because she thought she should have it instead was kind of the last straw...)

FWIW, I have an awesome relationship with my dad now that I'm grown up (he was not very available when I was young, working and travelling for work all the time), I talked to my dad 2-3 times a week. He's giving me awesome eBay selling advice.

C.

[az93]

Expired and scratched off losing lottery tickets. To my surprise they do sell on ebay!

[bandrhome]

Jar prices went crazy during Covid and still over priced... Like the $1 pickle jar! LOL

If there is one thing I know is jars. Ive sold well over 10,000 and have a large collection myself. They are all over my house! Haha.

Some interesting finds in this thread! LOL

[deltilogical]

We went to a tag sale way out in the wild in Vermont (30 years ago) and what I really remember was how the decrepit sellers had rubbish on their table, an unfinished grape jelly jar, old clothes,  some pens/used pencils, and a half used tube of toothpaste and brushes...   We felt bad and wanted to buy something but couldn't find anything. 

[theteamsetguy]

@fbusoni ,

It must have been from a jar of Gedney’s gummi pickels. 

[1786davycrockett · Accepted solution]

Among the many items which I could not forebear picking up at garage sales, flea markets, thrift shops, etc, were the following:  

A 3 foot, blow-up Richard Nixon children's toy punching bag (very top heavy, due to the huge plastic nose).

A ping-pong paddle depicting a caricature of Richard Nixon on one side, and Mao-Tse Tung on the flip side.

The 1978 12", 45 RPM numbered, colored vinyl record album of the Temple City Kazoo Orchestra, performing the Led Zeppelin song "Whole Lotta Love,"  as well as "Also Sprach Zarathustra," "Stayin' Alive," and "Miss You" -- all songs performed entirely on kazoo.  This was the first release from Rhino Records.

An automobile window suction-cup doll of President George H. W. Bush, as the Frankenstein monster.

A two-sided jigsaw puzzle (in box), featuring a caricature of President Richard Nixon on one side, with a caricature of Vice-President Spiro Agnew on the flip-side.

A yellow molded clay "piggy" bank, in the form of a Giant Anteater.

My son and I have a fixation on uncovering strange and weird items, ever since I gifted him about 40 years ago, with a set of plastic, Japanese wind-up sushi toys which I had chanced upon at a gift shop.

It has since become a rivalry between both of us.

[albertabrightalberta]

Someone mentioned earlier about having found dentures. 

This was a first for me about a year ago. (No, I didn't buy it!)

And this was from a couple of weeks ago. Seriously, people donate without checking their items? Then they put them on the shelf at Saver's, again without opening the cover? 

And I was really disappointed to find this in a wallet I purchased. (Although I've found real money, this wasn't one of those times!)

[fbusoni]

@1786davycrockett 

Oh yeah, definitely "first prize" to you.

That ping pong paddle alone is priceless.   regards

[fbusoni]

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

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@fbusoni 

I resemble this....

My mom was severely bipolar, my entire life.

I was actually more the parent.

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@pikabo-icu 

I'm sorry to hear that.  

Lots of us have / had parents who were either themselves the children of parents who grew up in or otherwise experienced life during war and conflict (Europe during WWII) or who themselves, as children, had such experiences, such as my own father.  

The damage that such experiences can cause cannot be underestimated... and it can persist across successive generations if not addressed in some manner.

Quite frankly, we see some manifestation of it every day here on these discussion forums.

PS: The only reason I mentioned "how this relates to eBay" was because that, presumably, is what we are here for.   😉

[roccotacodad54]

   Some years ago I had a friend that owned a mini storage business. While going through stuff in a non paid and not sold at auction unit I opened a large box and exclaimed "Meth lab".

   A bunch of stuff that looked like it would be anyway. 

   He called the law and sure enough. It cost him plenty to have it securely disposed of.

   Same storage place, same scenario. Deadbeat unit full of trash. Empty used McD. bags, pizza boxes etc..

   While loading the truck something fell out of some trash. It turned out to be an old hand struck gold piece they did during the California gold rush where they weighed a nugget and then smashed it with the weighed value embossed for currency. 

   We then went through it all and found several more hidden in crumpled up trash as well as some gold jewelry. 

   We weren't sourcing for resale per se though.

   Another time I found an old pre revolution Russian bank note  just laying on the sidewalk. Beautiful piece of currency. Very colorful. I still have it.

[ekmadonna]

Small Gerbers Baby Food jar sealed with a baby octopus in formaldehyde inside. Glued to a small wood base. Found at Local Salvation Army many years ago for $1.99. I sold here in the EVERYTHING ELSE Weird Stuff Category for $29.99 plus shipping. 

[cloverthefox88]

A home made cat coffin made of a tool box, found in a local second hand shop. 

[adamcartwright]

@kickin.assets 

A man messaged me to ask how a little girl's garment would fit in men's sizing. 

[kickin.assets]

@adamcartwright 

Wow! It certainly takes all kinds!! Not even sure how I would reply to that?!? 🤔😂